What is it about? A bank robbery, or fleeing East Germany, or just general angst at life?!
Here’s my weak sauce attempt at translating - hope this is okay for copyright since I wrote this translation:
[QUOTE=me]
Nothing makes sense
With us in the middle of it all
And much said, much wasted
The table bows under the weight
Under concerned ramblings
Much is printed, there’s a plan for everything
We fill our cart
With all the groceries
We buy everything, need nothing
We number our buttons [?]
Get our heads straight
Do our duty, bored
Kiss me while a thousand wars pass
We two against the bank [huh?]
Words are pointless now
We’ll see what becomes of us
We let everything happen around us
Past the point of no return
(Chorus)
There are no guarantees
There’s just now or never
Or damned for eternity
Only this second counts
And not the whole hour
Out of space and time
Given the facts,
There’s nothing to laugh about
The seriousness of the situation tells you that
The “experts” spout bullshit
On the idiot box
A high-grade stream of idiocy
I’m begging on my knees
Let’s run away together
LIfe is hard enough already
Let’s quietly tell lies [?]
No fear of flying
Opportunity screams after withdrawal [?!]
Not so much general angst - I see it more as a criticism of society. We are so very very rich and “buy everything, need nothing” but let “everything happen around us”: poverty, hunger, pollution - without really doing anything about it. We only ever talk about doing something but never get anything actually done.
Having said that: Herbert Grönemeyer songs are notorioulsy hard to translate (your translation is really good!) because he often plays with words creating something I’d maybe describe as a “feeling of a meaning”, rather than literal meaning (does that even make sense:confused:).
The lines that had you confused:
Zählen unsere Knöpfe - We count our buttons (No idea about that myself.)
Normen unsere Köpfe - Standardize our heads
Wir zwei gegen die Bank - The two of us against the dealer (“Spielbank” = casino)
Laß uns ruhig belügen - We can simply lie to ourselves (the mplied meaning is: soothing ourselves with lies we very well know are lies)
Keine Angst vor’m Fliegen - not afraid of flying
Die Gelegenheit schreit nach Entzug - This is THE opportunity for withdrawal
…please keep in mind that I don’t know that particular song and I’ve just read the text for the first time so YMMV, but that’s my take on it. Hopefully someone else will come along and give a better reply.
Thank you Rheintochter! Are you a native German speaker? If so, it’s reassuring to know that even for you it’s a little cryptic.
I find Grönemeyer’s lyrics useful to improve my German for that reason – because of the allegory, image and subtle references. I was introduced to his music by a roomie from Freiburg many years ago, and have almost “worn out the bits” listening to CDs and MP3s of his songs. “Die Welle” is very cathartic after a bitter break-up
In this song, I get the feeling he’s referring to something specific, but I feel like I’m missing a cultural reference of some kind. Or perhaps it was more of a stream-of-consciousness effort.
