Buy Rammstein song “Waidmanns Heil” on Amazon
| Ich bin in Hitze schon seit Tagen | I have been in heat for a few days |
| So werd ich mir ein Kahlwild jagen | So I’ll go and hunt a female deer* |
| Und bis zum Morgen sitz’ ich an | And until the morning I will sit there hidden |
| Damit ich Blattschuss geben kann | So that I can give it a shoulder shot |
| Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer, | On the land, on the see |
| lauert das Verderben | Lurks the destruction |
| Die Kreatur muss sterben! | The creature must die |
| Sterben! | Die! |
| Ein Schmaltier auf die Läufe kommt | A young female deer** comes to her feet |
| Hat sich im hohen Ried gesonnt | She had sunbathed in the high reeds |
| Macht gute Fährte tief im Tann | Makes good tracks deep into the forest |
| Der Spiegel glänzt, ich packe an | The mirror*** gleams and I grab it |
| Der Wedel zuckt wie Fingeraal | The tail twitches like a finger eel |
| Die Flinte springt vom Futteral | The shotgun jumps from the sheath |
| Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil! | Hunters’ salute |
| Ich fege mir den Bast vom Horn | I sweep the bast from the horn**** |
| Und gebe ein gestrichenes Korn | And aim the gun accurately |
| Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil! | Hunter’s salute |
| Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer, | On the land, on the sea |
| lauert das Verderben | Lurks the destruction |
| Die Kreatur muss sterben! | The creature must die |
| Sterben! | Die! |
| Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil! | Hunters salute |
| Sterben! | Die! |
| Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil! | Hunter’s salute |
| Sie spürt die Mündungsenergie | She feels the muzzle energy |
| Feiner Schweiss tropft auf das Knie | A fine drop of blood***** drips on the knee |
| Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer, | On the land, on the sea |
| lauert das Verderben | Lurks the destruction |
| Die Kreatur muss sterben! | The creature must die |
| Sterben! | Die! |
| Weidmanns manns manns manns Heil! | Hunter’s salute |
| Sterben! | Die! |
| Lyric © Rammstein | Translation © Affenknecht.com |
Submitted by EinHeisserSchrei
Translation Notes:
This song is full of German hunters’ jargon, which does not translate well into English.
* Kahlwild, literally bald deer = a deer without antlers, a female one
** Schmaltier, literally slim animal = a young female one, which has not given birth yet
*** Spiegel, literally mirror, is the white backside of the deer, as to be seen here: http://www.gs-rothenburg.privat.t-online.de/images/bilder/reh-spiegel.jpg
****Every year the male deer get new antlers (”Horn”), which are first covered in a thin skin (”Bast”). They use to rub (”fegen”, literally sweep) their antlers against trees to get rid of this skin.
*****Normally, Schweiß would mean sweat, but in the context of hunting, it’s the deer’s blood.
Thank you Hello Kitty.
Yes, I think it is best not to stretch very far to make connections about poetry, culture or lyrics. 🙂 In a coincidence, I was at a local German restaurant and saw a “beer stein” and the words on it were “cool drink and hot hunting” in German. “Kühler Trunk und Heiße Jagd”. Very common hunter’s themes. The central picture is two Jaegers showing off a fox skin to their barmaid. (Not trying to shoot her!) I had to buy it! It is now my “Waidmanns Heil” mug.
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Waidmanns Heil is actually Good Hunting
This song really is about hunting a deer. Till has a license and hunts. Much of it also appears in his poetry collection “Messer”, in the poem “Sautod” (Sow’s death).
A hunter lies in wait for game, even overnight sometimes, in a “blind” or “hide”. A shoulder shot should hit the heart, which is near the shoulder and make a quick “clean kill” – therefore this is a responsible hunter trying to do it right. The blood would drip straight down onto the doe’s knee.
(“Winging” means a bad shot – from BIRD hunting where a shot in the wing is either useless or leaves a wounded bird limping through the sky.)
Aside from the habit of double meaning in Rammstein, this is pretty straightforward. Many hunters feel both a sense of triumph and sensucht at the death of their prey. This has been written about by hunters for centuries. And yes, hunters do draw parallels between hunting a mate and hunting prey. Hopefully no “sterben” in the first instance!
Not a City Girl!
I hope you do realize that deer hunting is a metaphor for hunting for women. (Hunting as in like a relationship thing.) And if im wrong they are a vampire emo type band so vampires would also eat female deer. Which hences another metaphor.
This is a very intriguing song because I feel that men need women and guitar hero warriors of rock has this song on it
Hmmmm,well Rammstein is creepy as hell. But their music is awesome as hell. I listen for the sound, i dont speak German. SO! What they sing about doesn’t really bother me, cause I don’t bother to look. But the good thing about bands like Rammstein is they do offer dual meanings in their songs and leave a lot of room for interpritation, even if you come to a completely different idea than what the band meant it’s still right. So I have rendered all other arguments invalid. You may thank me now.
I have read all the comments, which are quite interesting. But, this song had a different impact on me… Yes, the lyrics could be saying that the song is about hunting young virgins, but when I heard it for the first time, I felt… well, like something bad left me alone.
For me, “Die Kreatur” refers to a person, a feeling, or a memory of something bad that has a disturbing influence on someone. It needs to be put away quickly, so the victim decisively yells “STERBEN!!!!” ( something like “DIE ALREADY!!!”). He is desperately trying to get rid of it once and for all, because it has been stalking him for a very long time (“Auf dem Lande, auf dem Meer, lauert das verderben…”). He is running after it, but it is constantly getting away, and is very hard to catch and neutralize. At one moment, he nearly catches it (“Sie spürt die Mündungsenergie, Feiner Schweiss tropft auf das Knie”)…
A great hunger for mental relaxation, this is what I would say this song is about.
I don’t know, I could be wrong, but this is how I see it…
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned the serial killer Robert Hansen, who’s preferred method was to “fly them out to his cabin in the Knik River Valley in his private plane, and stalk and kill them with a hunting knife and a .223-caliber Mini-14 rifle.”* http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/hansen-robert.htm
If the speaker in the lyrics is Robert Hansen, or character based on him, this would support the theory that ‘Till’ (the commenter, not the singer…) presents: the speaker is chasing “something bad [that left him] alone”. It is theorized that Robert Hansen commited his crimes to get revenge on the young women who shunned him in his adolescence.
In the lyrics there are strong sexual undertones. Keeping Hansen in mind, the sexuality in the song is straight out rape. There is definitely a dominance of the presumably male speaker over the presumably female “prey”, and Hansen committed far more rapes than he did murders, (though the numbers keep going up Hansen’s body count.) However, I don’t think that rape is the only way to interpret the sexuality presented in the song. If someone with a fetish wants to use this song as their anthem, (and no one actually gets hurt) far be it from me to tell them not to.
I think it’s about hunting virgins…. The whole album is kinda like that…But Till doesn’t hate women:-)
You think this is too much? Then do some research about the “Fritzl case” and listen to “Wiener Blut”.
Rammstein rules all.
‘On the land, on the SEE’ = Sea.
well , this song is pure poetry and i cant understand people who complain about till facing the reality , if you are so stupid you think he`s hesitating people to rape virging with blood and so on you should seek serious help , till shows he`s insightfulness when he bring up these subjects and talking about sex in its true perspective, that most people cant handle it well , that its a subject of destuction and not feeling well perspective , it s so obvious if you have listen to rammstein in the past that he`s not talking about himself in that way , but more in a poetical way , like illustrating what can happen to people when they come in contact with sex, religion and other ideologies, and the fact he`s systematic line up it like a reality/fairy tale view , he`s truly aware of the meaning and the negatives , so think about it in many perspetives instead of yelling ……
Wow. I like this song and band. But the whole raping virgins is a bit much…
I agree with the double meaning of this song. It could be about hunting in sport or for women.
Why does Till hate women? No wonder he makes all these somewhat sexist songs…
I apologize, I’m not really aware of this stuff. I would like to know. Oh wait, why is he married?
@ Kazzandra: I disagree. This album is about relationships and hurt. That this song IS ABOUT the objectification of women doesn’t mean it ADVOCATES it. The lyrics don’t *need* to say it’s wrong for you to see it.
The lyrics to Waidmanns Heil explore the vision of a male nymphomaniac who hunts for sex, just like Mein Teil explores the POV of a willing cannibalism victim, Weisses Fleisch and Hallelujah of pedophiles, Heirate Mich of a necrophiliac, Bestrafe Mich of a religious masochist and so on. Nobody’s ever accused them of being any of these things. Permit me to doubt that they’re defending them, too.
Besides, other songs like Stein Um Stein and Tier are just the contrary. They tell of stories in where rapists and abusers are clearly pointed out to be insane and undeserving of respect.
Lookie, it’s a common mistake to think that when a song says “I”, the singer is referring to himself. Till is not talking about himself; he sings about the “poetic I”, a character the song is about. Or does Mann Gegen Mann mean he’s a promiscuous homosexual? That would limit a lot the things they can sing about, don’t you think?
Either way, if you’ve ever been upset about songs talking about perverse sexual situations, I don’t think Rammstein ever was your band in a first place.
S.
‘Lauert das verderben’ translates more appropriatly as ‘lurks the corruption’. The word ‘Verderben’ is completely on par with ‘corruption’ and all it’s various connotations. Lauert=lurks. Completely fitting with the song’s perverse underlying sexual theme.