Feuer Frei!

I've just discovered that Rammsteins' Feuer Frei! is perfectly suited for blasting along at 147.5 kph, when played at close to the pain threshold.

It seems to attune to some tertiary brainwave, and just drives you along, perfectly synching to that ideal speed.

I tried explaining all this to the nice Police Officer with the pretty blue flashing lights, and when I told him "Rammstein made me do it!" he gave me a pretty little printed reminder of the occasion with the ideal Feuer Frei! speed measurement printed on it.

Oh, it also does wonders for troublesome earwax, I've found.

So, how much will that track cost you?
No risk of a suspended license I hope?

/Michael

Interestingly, Duke of Earl is at the exact same tempo as American highway dashed lane lines when driving 55mph. Good info for those of you with broken speedometers.

And speaking of Rammstein, has anyone else noticed that the lyrics of the English version of Du Hast bear little to no resemblance to the German lyrics?

Uh, yeah, they're in German.... Seriously, what are the differnces? Don't just tease us...tell us.

Okay. Here's the orginal German:

Du
du hast
du hast mich
du hast mich gefragt
du hast mich gefragt, und ich hab nichts gesagt

Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet
treu ihr sein für alle Tage

Nein

Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide
sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen

Nein

According to my high school German (which could well be slightly off, seriously changing the meaning), that translates to:

You
You have
You have me
You have asked me
You have asked me and I have not said

Will you, until your death separates you, be true to her for all the days

No

Will you, until death takes you, love her even in the bad days

No

Note that the way past tense verbs are constructed in German makes this translation funny.

Du Hast, the English version on the album, has these lyrics:

You
You hate
You hate me
You hate me to say
You hate me to say
And I did not obey

Will you until death does sever
Be upright to her forever

Never

Will you 'til death be her rider
Her lover too, to stay inside her

Never

Actually, when doing research just now, I came across a site that makes more sense than my initial translation does, and explains the discrepancies. It seems that the whole of the lyrics are based (obviously) on wedding vows and (not so obviously) on puns. The German 2nd person for ``hate'' is ``hasst'', which sounds the same as ``hast'', which introduces the past tense verb. Also, it seems that the word for ``separate'' (``schieden'') is almost the same as the word for ``vagina'' (``Schiede''). So it makes more sense to me now. Thanks for prodding me into actually looking it up.

BTW, here are specific links to the site I was referencing:
Du Hast
Du Hast, English version
Du Hast, English translation of German version, plus notes

Bitt, I'd like to officially nominate you as the official comminuty czar on all matters relating to linguistics, literature, and grammar.

Oh, wait, it looks like you're running unopposed... So, congratulations!

Yeah - sounds like the ever-so-dodgy attempt that Rammstein made of translating Engel into English - the problem seems to be that they try to stick with the rhyming at the expense of the meaning...

Sweat now I know what to play at my friend's wedding