This song was actually written for Vitali Klitschko (Ukrainian boxer) as an opener for his fights. That's why there is counting to ten. But the mangement of Klitschko thought it was a too heavy song. What a missed opportunity for Klitschko! This is one of Rammstein's best songs and a great song in live concerts!
Once you learn that, all of a sudden the lyrics make sense: ... the sun shines out of my hands can burn, can blind you when she breaks out of my fists lie hot on your face lays painful on your chest the balance come to loss lets you go down hard and the world counts loud to ten ...
The pyro on the last tour for this song was insane - literally felt like there was a "tiny" sun blazing above the stage. Rammstein make top shelf videos, but there is no live show on Earth quite like a Rammstein live show. They seem kind of heavy and simplistic on the surface, but everything about this band is art.
One of my favorite Rammstein songs. I was unaware that it was originally written for a boxer so now the counting makes sense (it never did before). It sounds like a ref counting down a boxer and at 10 you're "aus".
Singing "it will not set tonight" at an open air concert at dusk, when you know you will not see darkness for next hour because of pyrotech is just perfect
Check out the live version from their most recent tour. Great pyrotechnics during this song (the whole show actually). On the recent tour they had 2 female pianists playing Rammstein covers as an opening act, including a version of Sonne. It was awesome.
Zeit is a very emotional song personally, they wrote it during the pandemic while things were at its worse (as far as i know) and open up about their worries, the time that push us closer to the end. Deep song. I really recommend it to you. They also released Angst, which is very much like Amerika, a political critic. Dicke Titten is great if you want to have fun, its silly in every way. As well as Zick Zack. Lügen is also an open social critic about how we lie to ourselves constantly. Good insight on the song, cheers.
Supposedly the video is referencing the older German version of snow white. Where she is wicked and the dwarves are her slaves. So she is the sun. I think in the German poem sonne is used as her name I think
The "aus" would mean "over" in this case. Like counting out a boxer. And like you said in the beginning: this was supposed to be the entrance music for Klitschko. So, that's what the lyrics are about. The sun comes out of my hands... The visuals of the video don't have much to do with the lyrics though.
Hi Doug, I love your thoughtful and competent reactions for so many different pieces of music as they broaden my musical universe. I'm in my late 50s and discovered Rammstein some months ago. Sometimes they're a bit over the top, but there are real gems in their catalogue. From a musical perspective I really would like to see your reaction to "Mein Herz brennt" (Piano Version), somehow reminding me of a Brecht/Weill-Song, with an exceptional Vokal and theatrical Performance of the singer. No explicit things to see there. And "Zeit", the official Video, a masterful combination of Video, lyrics and music with an existential and universal topic. It's epic in the best way and said to be one of the Best Videos ever produced. One (more or less) explicit scene in the middle - pictures of newly born babys (Fake, of course). More or less, because this is the most natural thing on the world but might not be for everyone. Regards and keep going!
Great song, very good live! Do have a peek at a couple when you find time. They Always end their shows with the Instrumental/Piano) version of Sonne. A few more New Rammstein to must watch: Zick Zack (Hilarious video), Angst and Dicke Titten (Yup, that one is exactly what it sounds like)🤭
I got this album when it came out. As a kid in middle school, it changed my life for many years. Mutter will always be my favorite album by them, but Rammstein still kills it and I love their most recent two albums almost as much.
An association I just got from the video clip (in line with other Rammstein songs and themes) was of Snowwhite as the charismatic leader figure, who gets away with bossing the miners thanks to her charisma (in part in the form of sex appeal). And still based on the video clip one can take this association a lot further (including the glass coffin), but I won't dictate my own interpretations now. ;)
Some passages of the german lyrics indicate that the song is about boxing. I am German speaking and, loosely translated, the sun is the force that comes out of the fists, hits the opponent in the face, makes him lose his balance and falls to the ground. And then count to 10!
I did just see some lIve Concerts Clips from the USA a couple days ago from Sept. in TX and CA. The crowd can sing the lyrics in german too. Amazing ! Rammstein is a phenomenon. Like your reaction video ! :-D ;-) Greetz from Germany. Oh. And by the way. The singer is an educated pyrotechnician. You can see that on stage shows.
Can't talk about the lyrics because I've forgotten basically all my high school German, but this album came out when I was a fourteen-year-old baby goth, and was one of my absolute favourites. This isn't my favourite track (that's Spieluhr), but definitely up there.
You should check out one of their new songs "Angst" or "Zeit". Important to do a version with English lyrics. User "EducatedMarine" has them uploaded with English cc. Very visual music videos to pay attention to that suit the lyrics
Yes more Rammstein!! Try their newest single "Adieu" or the single before it called "Angst"! Or the guitarist Richard Kuspe's band Emigrate (Rammstein's guitarist's solo project)?? There's even a couple of duets with Till Lindemann, also lead singer of Ghost Tobias (known as Cardinal Copia)!! How about some Ghost?? How about some Tori Amos??
what josefine nagy said. in addition to that - the lines "the sun shines out of my hands" and "if she breaks out of my fists lie hot on your face, lays painful on your chest the balance come to loss" kind of refers to klitschko landing hands on his opponents and going down. the counting then would be the crowd and the ref doin the ko count.
Would love to see you do some Pineapple Thief, the other prog PT with Gavin on drums haha. I love 'What Have We Sown?' but that's 27 minutes long, I'm sure your fans have lots of recommendations from them, I feel like they don't get enough love and this channel would be great for them. Thanks again for all the great content
The soprano voice is not digital at all. It is a real soprano recorded in a studio. There are 4 different samples of vocal laments in "Sonne" that were originally recorded by the company "Spectrasonics" (company mainly known for keyboard software Omnisphere). Spectrasonics produced a number of sampling CD-s back in the day such as "Distorted Reality", "Symphony of Voices" etc. These specific vocal laments are all taken from the latter - The Symphony of Voices CD collection. Flake the keyboardist simply sampled the sounds to his keyboard in a sequence that produces the melody we know today. If you read the official album booklet's liner notes, you can find "Symphony of Voices" being mentioned there as well. Another subject I wanted to correct is the chorus harmony. It starts with the B chord, but the key signature is actually not B-minor, rather E-minor instead. They start with a minor dominant chord and go V, I, flat VII, flat VI and repeat the pattern. The second half starting with E (as the real key center for chorus) goes I, V, III, II and repeats. What I mean by that is that not all sections have to start with the root of a key signature. Other than that an interesting analysis and the song itself is classic Rammstein.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned it yet and I scrolled back a ways reading comments so I don’t repeat things. For me it was quite obvious immediately the Sonne was Snow White. When he says here comes the sonne as Snow White is walking through the door. She’s the brightest star ect…. The dwarves were enamored and worshipped Snow White. So she is who they were referring to in the video for being the Sonne. At dinner table the Sonne won’t set tonight, she just did a line of gold dust lol. You get it? At the end the Sonne rising and she comes up out of the glass….
I highly recommend you do a video on Alter Mann or Heirate Mich. they aren’t the most popular (not by a long shot) so I doubt some one sends these ones in but they are definitely interesting songs. Specially Alter Mann it’s a bit more different from what you’ve heard from Rammstein than Heirate Mich. Thanks for the video btw, enjoyed it a lot
Interesting interpretation layer. Having talks about our beloved boxer, the song has a much simpler interpretation, too: the counting to the Out to win the boxing match, he is the sun that’s why it burns from his fingers when he puts them on your face. I am hoping and wishing for you to react to Zeit. Please take your time and pause/rewind with Zeit to get the text, the music and visuals. There’s not a single second to spare.
really a great song. i think you should watch the video again, though, paying more attention. the dwarves are working for, pretty much worshipping snow white. shes the sun referenced in the video. they long for her to come out and even though she abuses them, they revel in it. it may have been bittersweet when she od'd, but when the apple wakes here, theyre right back to work. if you like rammstein, you should check out black light discipline. another great industrial band. the video for their song on fire is also really good.
You had the clue to the counting in your introduction...it was a ten count for the boxer Klitschko. And as for the band being " miners"...dwarves live under the ground digging for gold.
Pleeease check out another German band - Electric Callboy. Hypa Hypa would be a good start. Bizarre but hilarious mashup of so many musical genres. But actually good music.
Oh yeah, they are hilarious, but the music is great. I remember hearing their old Britney Spears cover and loving it. Forgot about them until they started popping up in reactions though.
Doug, I am a big fan! Love your song choices and analysis! Especially some of the early psychedelic work of Pink Floyd! Hell yeah to those small furry animals grooving with a pict, lol!
You should really react to some Children of Bodom. Kissing The Shadows, Downfall, Hatebreeder, Lake Bodom, Follow the Reaper among others. Their songs are so melodic and Alexi was an amazing and gifted guitarist. You can hear the classical influence in many of their songs. There's even a video out there of Alexi playing Four Seasons/Summer. Even if you don't like his style of singing, just listen to the music itself. So melodic and amazing.
Hola, saludos desde Chile, queria preguntarte si puedes analizar bajo tu vision el tema ``A parentesis in Eternity``de SCAR SYMMETRY, es un tema bastante especial, aunque no muestra la genialidad de esta banda en su totalidad, tiene algo bastante entretenido. Seria bueno ver un video con tu vision. Saludos.
those count is for boxing, you know k. o.) Also, "hier commt die Sonne" is awesome phrase for boxer champion intro. They did great job, and I respect Vitaliy, especially now, during this war in Ukraine, but that was his bad decision
You are completely wrong....this is a dark version of the Snowhite`s tale..Rammstein gives you always an alternative version of old versions of history...with their lyrics the more rooted in German Romanticism....
Nice reaction! You seem to be a bit off about the message though. No problem, it's of course hard for a first time listener. Remember, it was created as an opener for a boxer. The sun is a symbol for the boxer. He rises and will not go down. The counting is the counting to ten before the knockout counts. Many lines are metaphors for the boxers strenght like the sun breaking from his fists and being hot in the opponents face etc. Of course as always the song can mean many things to many people and there is no right or wrong in art. But I think this was the original message.
Live version would be nicer to see - I mean for reaction. Most songs Sounds worse when played live because too much editing and effects has been done in the studio. Not in case of Rammstein - i like live version more, almost in every of their songs. There is also an accustic version of this song - only with classical instruments, like piano and so on.
Not quite: Kruspe actually says (off-the record) Sonne is about cocaine addiction. Here comes the sun: a new white line he craved, the brightest star of all.
"I haven't paid much attention to the song". Don't worry, actually I enjoyed it more when you analyzed the song rather than the video. Maybe you can rewatch the videos of cam and then tell us after this your opinion. If you really want to do that.
