Buy Rammstein song “Haifisch” on Amazon
| Wir halten zusammen, | We stick together |
| wir halten einander aus, | We endure one another |
| wir halten zueinander; | We hold onto one another |
| niemand hält uns auf. | No one holds us back |
| Wir halten euch die Treue, | We stay faithful to you |
| wir halten daran fest | We firmly hold onto that |
| und halten uns an Regeln, | And obey the rules |
| wenn man uns Regeln lässt. | If you leave rules to us* |
| Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen | And the shark, that has tears |
| Und die laufen vom Gesicht, | And they run from the face |
| doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser – | But the shark lives in water |
| so die Tränen sieht man nicht. | So no one can see the tears |
| Wir halten das Tempo, | We keep our speed |
| wir halten unser Wort; | We keep our word |
| Wenn einer nicht mithält, | If one can’t keep up |
| dann halten wir sofort. | Then we immediately stop |
| Wir halten die Augen offen, | We keep our eyes open |
| wir halten uns den Arm; | We hold each other by the arm |
| sechs Herzen, die brennen – | Six hearts that burn |
| das Feuer hält euch warm | The fire keeps you warm |
| Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen | And the shark, that has tears |
| und die laufen vom Gesicht; | And they run from the face |
| doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser – | But the shark lives in water |
| so die Tränen sieht man nicht. | So no one can see the tears |
| In der Tiefe ist es einsam | In the deep it is lonely |
| und so manche Zähre fliesst | And so many a tear is shed |
| und so kommt es, dass das Wasser | And it so happens that the water |
| in den Meeren salzig ist. | In the oceans is salty |
| Man kann von uns halten | You can think of us |
| was immer man da will; | Whatever you want |
| wir halten uns schadlos, | We get compensation |
| wir halten niemals still. | We never keep still |
| Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen | And the shark, that has tears |
| und die laufen vom Gesicht; | And they run from the face |
| doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser – | But the shark lives in water |
| so die Tränen sieht man nicht. | So no one can see the tears |
| In der Tiefe ist es einsam | In the deep it is lonely |
| und so manche Zähre fliesst | And so many a tear is shed |
| und so kommt es, dass das Wasser | And it so happens that the water |
| in den Meeren salzig ist. | In the oceans is salty |
| Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen | And the shark, that has tears |
| und die laufen vom Gesicht; | And they run from the face |
| doch der Haifisch lebt im Wasser – | But the shark lives in water |
| so die Tränen sieht man nicht. | So no one can see the tears |
| Lyric © Rammstein | Translation © Affenknecht.com |
Submitted by EinHeisserSchrei
Translation Notes:
This song is about Rammstein and the fans. Rammstein stick together, do what they want. The fans are the sharks who “shed a tear” that no one notices when, for instance, we heard the band nearly broke up. “Six hearts that burn, the fire keeps you warm” is obviously the band making the fans happy.
* whether “wenn man uns Regeln lässt” means “If you leave rules to us” or “if you leave control to us” can be easily determined by looking up the spelling in the official booklet. if “Regeln” is spelt with a capitalised “R”, it means “rules” (noun), but if it is spelt uncapitalised, a verb was used. consequently: capitalised “R” = “If you leave rules to us”, but uncapitalised “r” = “if you leave control to us” which is more likely.
C’mon now – this interpretation is a bit silly. Rammstein are the sharks. They look dangerous and cruel, but they also have their sensitive side invisible to outside observers. No one else can see the tears of the sharks, yet their sorrows are so great that they turn the seas salty.
Really though, the song seems to be mostly word-play with “halten”. The word is used is many different ways: stay, endure, hold, keep, and stop. In English, “halt” still has the meaning “stop”, but maybe the word “hold” also comes from the German “halt”. A question for linguists, and a nice example of the poet at play.
There are legends from German mythology describing how the ocean got salty, but Till has come up with a new one: the poor, over-sensitive sharks has been crying so much. %^)
Also the usual ironic humor: the sharks always follow the rules, as long as they get to make them.
One of the best songs of rammstein!
their songs help me to learn german.
In the Little Black Rammbook, available on Amazon, I translate the lyrics to match original rhyme & beat, like this:
We all stick together
We help each other out,
We cling on to each other
No-one takes us out.
We are faithful to you
We hold on very tight
We’ll stick to all the rules, if you
Allow us to set them right.
And the shark, well, he is crying
Down his face the tears now fall
Yet the shark lives in the water
So we don’t see tears at all.
We set a quickfire tempo
We’re true to what we say
If someone can’t keep up with us
We’ll stop then straight away.
We keep our eyes wide open
We open out our arms,
Six hearts, aflame and beating
The fire then keeps you warm.
And the shark, well, he is crying
Down his face the tears will fall
Yet the shark lives in the water
So we don’t see tears at all.
It’s lonely in deep water
The tears are running free
That explains, then, why the water
Is salty in the sea.
Think then, what the hell you like
Think then, what you will
We are completely blameless
And we never keep quite still.
And the shark, well, he is crying
Down his face the tears now fall
Yet the shark is living in water
So we don’t see tears at all.
It’s lonely in deep water
So many tears are running free
That explains, then, why the water
Is salty in the sea.
(Chorus)
poor shark
Take a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mack_the_Knife
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Threepenny_Opera
Try to look at the old Brecht song Mackie Messer. A classic later translated into Mack the Knife.
This band knows their classics!
As mentioned before the song is about the band.
How they stuck together during the years and supported on-another.
male-bonding etc..
And also the criticism and flak they got for their music and lyrics.
Which can be read form the following text:
Man kann von uns halten
was immer man da will;
wir halten uns schadlos,
wir halten niemals still.
Which would translate (in meaning not by word) to:
You can think of us
what ever you want
We are not responsible/liable/to blame for your actions.
We’ll never shut-up / We’ll never stop (as in when marching)
Don’t forget that the band was named with other bands in certain high-school shootings they where not responsible for. However sad these events where.
this German link shows two uses of schadlos.
http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/deutsch-englisch/schadlos.html
“schadlos” as intended as the band is not responsible for damages incurred by a 3rd party caused by a listener to there music.
However there is a second meaning.
As “sich schadlos halten” means to take advantage.
Again an example of how the band used words with multiple meanings to express both or suggest A but mean B
An other nice example is the song “Du hast”
When spoken the first 3 line have the following translations
(keep in mind the reputation of the band and what you would hear)
du hast : you hate / you have
du hast mich : you hate me / you have me
du hast mich gefragt : you have asked me (Oh it was not about hate)
😉
So I guess translating schadlos to English will get only one meaning for the word in the English text. The band probably intended both.
Sadly things don’t always translate well especially poetry.
And that’s why I love the band. For their lyrics which look at the darker sides of man and society and have multiple meanings, intentions and emotions. As this one has in some respect it also a childrens song: “daddy? -Yes son. -Why is the sea salty? – Well son, you see sharks cry too, but you can’t see their tears as they live in the sea. -Dad? -Yes son. -They must have cried a lot then as the sea is very salty. -Yes son they must have.”
I’ll agree with the others? that this song is representing Rammstein itself. I mean they are always hard as stone, maybe evil, sometimes cruel. People think about them as 6 absolutely insane people, and they have to be such. But I think sometimes they get tired playing this role. they are just humans with their joys and sorrows and tears of course.
It’s one of my favourites because of the lyricks. I have recognised myself in this song.
“To hold harmless” is a legal term referring to a business agreement.
“We hold each other harmless” is something to the effect of: If bad things X, Y, or Z happen as a result of our doing business together, it is neither of our faults, and we cannot legally argue otherwise.
I love this song so much! My favorite thing is the video though! The lyrics speak of how they will always be togther and are faithful to the band, yet in the video they are at Till’s funeral already trying to find a new singer. I love the irony!
My list of favorites from this album:
Top three are Haifisch, Fuhre Mich and Ich tu dir weh. I like Buckstabu, and Waidmans Heil a lot too, but this one has GREAT lyrics. Very satisfied with the lyrics of this one.
too literally*
@ PETER – hmm… I thought it over a bit, maybe it is a double meaning… I’m still not sure what the meaning of this strophe is:
Man kann von uns halten
was immer man da will;
wir HALTEN UNS SCHADLOS,
wir halten niemals still
but I guess “We hold harmless;get indemnity/compensation” does fit better? nevertheless, “we behave harmless” could be another meaning, but I can’t see the logic in it:
“We behave harmless
We never keep still” ???
Since I can’t speak English that good, I was forced to look up synonyms of indemnity – I found another meaning; “pardon; end of blame”… Maybe this makes more sense:
“You can think of us
Whatever you want
We are pardoned
We never keep still”
– ??? not sure if it can mean the same in German
Sources: http://thesaurus.com/browse/indemnity?__utma=1.757579086.1277134810.1277134810.1277134810.1&__utmb=1.4.9.1277134832794&__utmc=1&__utmx=-&__utmz=1.1277134810.1.1.utmcsr=%28direct%29|utmccn=%28direct%29|utmcmd=%28none%29&__utmv=-&__utmk=166885822#visualthesaurus
http://www.dict.cc/deutsch-englisch/schadlos+halten.html
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/german-english/jdn-schadlos-halten
PS: Now I’m being a nitpicker 😛
I’m only speculating, but I think “We never KEEP STILL” is better, because they rather mean “you can’t KEEP US QUIET” (I can speak German).
“We never SIT STILL” sounds too literary, even figuratively it sounds rather like “we won’t take it” or “we will do something about it”…
@Enravota – interesting point of view, but I interpreted those songs you mentioned in another way, nevertheless, your interpretation is possible too… But I think these three songs: Ein Lied, Rammlied & Haifisch, are clearly dedicated to the fans… It’s like a trilogy ode or something 🙂
Nice song, I also don’t speak German (or English for that matter)so thank you guys for creating this site, about the syntaxis of translation, well translating isn’t always easy and it’s even more difficult when you have different interpretations of how a song should be read.
I love the vid for this song, in my mind it’s about how the band it’s the shark and they keep together, Till died and the left band members feel angry/sorry ’cause they secretly wanted to kill Till and now that he’s dead they just fell wrong, so fist fight ensues, only to realize Till isn’t dead, meawhile Till is sending a postcard with the image of the smart shark very much alive.
I tottaly agree with Cinnamon Revenge. I hold the shark to be te band itself. The meaning is that the rich and famous can also experience lonleyness and sadness, but the people usually can’t see that because of the enviroment the rich and famous dwell in. And this enviroment is quite a lonley place, which fuels the sadness itself. Nevertheless though, the band holds together and their hearts burn aflame to keep us warm.
The comparisson made with the Ein Lied can be made also with many other Rammstein songs, as it is a “lightmotive” in their work – in Mein Herz brennt, also in Ich willq even in Spring if you like to make an broader interpretation.