Song of the Day: Du hast by Rammstein

Let's just say I shocked myself by liking this song.  This kind of rock *ahem* shall I say 'scares' me...  As the song went on, I couldn't help but like the song especially the guitar riff (riff? is that the word I'm looking for?)  But that doesn't mean it still doesn't scare me.  So, 50% of me likes it and the other 50% remains scared shitless :P



In any case, the lyrics are interesting which is not what I would've thought given the tone of the song.  According to wikipedia, the title Du hast is German for "you have" and a play on the homophones hast/haben and hasst/hassen ('have' and 'hate').

"When conjugated in the second person singular form (i.e. "you"), the verbs haben and hassen become respectively hast and hasst. There is no phonetic difference between these two words ...

"... The song is a play on German marriage vows. The refrain "Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet, treu ihr sein für alle Tage?" translates to "Do you[singular] want, until death separates you[plural], to be faithful to her for all time?" Instead of answering with "ja" (yes), the singer says "nein" (no), finally breaking his silence earlier in the song: "Du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab' nichts gesagt." This is in the present perfect and translates to "You have asked me, and I have said nothing," but is usually translated in the past tense to, "You asked me, and I said nothing."

 "One time in the song, the refrain is sung with different words ("Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide, sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen?"). This translates as "Do you[singular] want, until the death that divides, to love her even in bad days?". Again, the singer responds with "Nein!".