Ein kleiner Mensch stirbt nur zum Schein wollte ganz alleine sein Das kleine Herz stand still fuer Stunden So hat man es fuer tod befunden Es wird verscharrt in nassem Sand Mit einer Spieluhr in der Hand Der erste Schnee das Grab bedeckt Hat ganz sanft das Kind geweckt In einer kalten Winternacht Ist das kleine Herz erwacht Als der Frost ins Kind geflogen Hat es die Spieluhr aufgezogen Eine Melodie im Wind Und aus der Erde singt das Kind Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Und kein Engel steigt herab Mein Herz schlaegt nicht mehr weiter Nur der Regen weint am Grab Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Eine Melodie im Wind Mein Herz schlaegt nicht mehr weiter Und aus der Erde singt das Kind Der kalte Mond in voller Pracht Hört die Schreie in der Nacht Und kein Engel steigt herab Nur der Regen weint am Grab Zwischen harten Eichendielen wird es mit der Spieluhr spielen Eine Melodie im Wind Und aus der Erde singt das Kind Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Und kein Engel steigt herab Mein Herz schlaegt nicht mehr weiter Nur der Regen weint am Grab Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Eine Melodie im Wind Mein Herz schlaegt nicht mehr weiter Und aus der Erde singt das Kind Am Totensonntag hoerten sie Aus Gottes Acker diese Melodie Da haben sie es ausgebettet Das kleine Herz im kind gerettet Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Eine Melodie im Wind Mein Herz schlaegt nicht mehr weiter Und auf der Erde singt das Kind Hoppe Hoppe Reiter Und kein Engel steigt herab Mein Herz schlägt nicht mehr weiter Nur der regen weint am Grab |
A small human only pretends to die It wanted to be completely alone The small heart stood still for hours So they decided it was dead It is being buried in wet sand With a music box in its hand The first snow covers the grave It woke the child very softly In a cold winter night The small heart is awakened As the frost flew into the child It wound up the music box A melody in the wind And the child sings from the ground Up and down, rider And no angel climbs down My heart does not beat anymore Only the rain cries on the grave Up and down, rider A melody in the wind My heart does not beat anymore And the child sings from the ground The cold moon, in full magnificence It hears the cries in the night And no angel climbs down Only the rain cries on the grave Between hard oak boards It will play with the music box A melody in the wind And the child sings from the ground Up and down, rider And no angel climbs down My heart does not beat anymore Only the rain cries on the grave Up and down, rider A melody in the wind My heart does not beat anymore And the child sings from the ground On Totensonntag they heard This melody from god's field Then they unearthed it They saved the small heart in the child Up and down, rider A melody in the wind My heart does not beat anymore And the child sings on the ground Up and down, rider And no angel climbs down My heart does not beat anymore Only the rain cries on the grave |
A decidedly depressing song, this song is about a little child who wants to be all alone, so it plays dead. The people of the village take it for dead and quickly bury it under the sand. The cold air outside wakes the buried-alive child, who plays the music box it was buried with and sings from underground. It is eventually heard and the child is dug back out of the ground.
I think the child was undead, could not die but longed for it. until its heart was saved on “Sunday of the dead.”
To me, it’s clear the child was buried alive and didn’t make it, and that it’s the music box that people heard and unearthed. From the lyrics, I’d go as far as say that the music box was the child’s figurative heart, and that it was discovered after the passing of considerable time, hence the “Sunday of the dead”. And so the song describes the suffering of the child, both previous to this event through his loneliness, and during the event, as nobody can hear him object. The only thing left of his existence is this music box, heard through the ground where the child was killed. It’s a heartbreaking story about neglect.
Morbid song, but one of my faves: Many layers to the lyrics here, which make the song so unique and powerful.
There is the tale of the child, that plays dead to be alone. It is buried with its favourite toy, a music box, playing the tune ‘Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter’ – a gift of love but eventually the child’s life saver. The child’s cries are not answered, but in the end, its singing is.
Then there is Friederike Kempner. Born in the 19th century into landed gentry in the province of Posen, Friederike aspired to be a poet and started to publish her work. Styling herself as the ‘Silesian swan’ most of her work is involuntarily funny, with its hapless use of synestetics and its accidental cliches. Among her many other eccentricities, Friederike was taphephobic and member of the society for the prevention of the burial of the undead (Anti-Scheintod-Liga). With others she lobbied for the deferral of burials until at least after the third day following a person’s death, which became the law in the 1870s and is to this day. To cut to the chase, her lobbying saw her write a poem ,Das scheintote Kind’ – ‘The apparently dead child’. Lindemann seems to emulate the poem, some elements are matching, albeit that there is no Happy End in Frederike’s poem.
Now for an interpretation – I think the song describes the fate of an artist experiencing rejection in a repressive political regime. Lindemann’s own professional history spans the time before and after the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Substitute child for artist, and forbidden or unable to perform, he turns inward, and is thus in suspended animation, fans think he’s dead or done. But he still has his music and talent. Finally something happens, inspiration dawns, his resistance begins and he plays again. The fans hear the music, first ‘underground’ and eventually carry the redeemed artist to the light, saving him.
It is important to take the two roles in this interpretation. It sings the little child once and opposite stands at the chorus of the narrators. Don’t mix the lyrics with each other. In the introduction, it is also important how the words are emphasized. For example “A small human only pretends to die “- “Pretends ” sounds as emphatically as if it is actually dead. The word is sarcastically emphasized. The narrator pretends something to the listener. The end is not anticipated.
Such a haunting and at the same time such a beautiful song. But I didn’t get this one thing. Was the child really alive when they found him? I get a feeling that he was found dead as he sings, “My heart does not beat anymore.” If this were the case then it makes the song all the more dark. And awesome.
Auf der Erde singt das kind translates more closely to “and on the earth, the children sing” as opposed to ground