''Rosenrot'' - Rammstein

12:04 PM Reviews 0 Comments

     One of the things I've always loved about Neue Deutsche Härte masters of the story song, Rammstein, is their ability to mix their own unique/warped sense of creativity with traditional German art. Their theatrical concerts feature giant dicks, bloody cannibalism, and massive amounts of fire, but many of their songs are based on old German poetry and stories. In each case, they take a classic German tale, and give it a nice morbid twist.
     Rammstein’s song “Rosenrot” is based on a poem by German romanticist poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The poem is called “Heidenröslein,” and was Goethe’s first attempt at folk poetry. What makes this poem such great source material for a Rammstein song is that, while it paints a pretty image, and starts out innocent enough, what’s going on is actually really dark.




     Yeah, sometimes my reviews feature full poems. Hochkultur in this bitch. Anyway, I’m almost positive this poem is about rape. It starts off with a boy seeing a beautiful Röslein, which obviously represents a young lady, and decides that he’s going to “break” it. The Röslein threatens to stab him if he touches her, so that he’ll always remember what he tried to do, and what happened. I assume this is the equivalent of a guy forcing a girl to give him oral sex, and the girl biting his dick. I should also mention that Goethe had a fear of syphilis. I feel like this is also a factor here. Sowieso, the boy violently grabs the Röslein, and although she makes good on her promise to stab that nigga, it doesn’t help. She suffers pain and, presumably, dies.

     Essentially, this poem is about humanity confronting forces that are greater, more powerful, and impossible to stand up against. In the ancient Pagan stories of humans vs gods, the gods always win, because the gods represent nature. And while we have been able to dominate nature in many ways, it only takes a good tsunami or hurricane to whoop our ass.

     So now that we know the source material, and because I don’t want my readers to forget what I actually do on this blog, on to Rammstein’s “Rosenrot.”

     “Rosenrot” tells a somewhat similar story as “Heidenröslein,” but with a few changes, and a twist at the end. In this version, a girl is persuading a boy into climbing a mountain to get a pretty rose for her. The opening line is the same as the one in Goethe’s poem, except that it swaps the boy for a girl.



     It turns out the Mädchen is a bit of a spoiled brat who always gets her way. #bossbitch.
     And so, our pussy-whipped protagonist climbs the mountain in search of the Röslein. However, in the last verse of the song, there's a twist that sets it very much apart from the poem. In this story the boy and the Röslein both suffer and die.


     My favorite line in the whole song is “Will nicht mehr am Felsen sein.” (He doesn’t want to be on the cliff anymore) It’s such a simple, straight-forward line conveying information without getting emotional. Yet in that one line, they’re saying that the boy realizes what a mistake it was to come here. What a mistake it was to listen to that girl. And now it’s too late to do things differently, because he’ll be dead in a few seconds.

     Rammstein retells the story in a way that does justice to the poem, yet still brings something different. The elements of mankind being at the mercy of forces greater than us are still there. However, Rammstein goes a step further. The Röslein is still the weak little creature that can so easily by killed by the boy. Yet after the boy has it, part of the cliff breaks, and the hunter now finds himself at the mercy of a force even greater than himself. It’s the classic cycle of the strong dominating the weak, but then the stronger dominating the strong. Not only that, but remember he’s only doing this because of a girl. Despite being physically stronger, men often find themselves slaves to the whims of a girl who is able to manipulate guys with sexuality. It was also sexuality which got the Röslein Rösraped in Goethe’s poem. It can be said that the boy in that story has turned into a monster due to being unable to control his sexual desire, which causes both him and his victim to suffer. Perhaps sexuality is the greatest force that humans are weak against. Just thinking about this makes me thankful that I’m a spirit from another dimension.

     In addition to the story bringing something fresh to “Heidenröslein,” the Musik is great, which can easily be expected coming from Rammstein. The chorus in this song is crazy catchy, which I know because it’s been playing in my head the entire time I’ve been writing this. Throughout the verses, the guitars build up while vocalist Till Lindemann tells the story, then moves into a nice breakdown when Herr Lindemann sings the chorus.

     However, the same way “Rosenrot” is a retelling of “Heidenröslein,” the video for this one is a retelling of the song.

     The nicely shot video starts with Rammstein, playing travelling religious monks from different orders, entering a Romanian village. As much as I like how this video starts, like a typically cheesy German Heimatfilm, I kinda have a problem with each member being from a different order. Just seems unrealistic that monks of different orders would be travelling from village to village together, since different religious groups tend to hate each other. Anyway, the Rammonks enter the village and find happy Romanians drinking, dancing, feasting, and coming over to greet their holy visitors. A truly ideal village. In what may be foreshadowing, a dead ram is being carried by some villagers, and its head swings right in front of the camera for about a second. Rammstein is invited to party with the villagers, so they sit down to the feast, drinking and chatting with their new friends. However, Till seems to be more interested in a cute little Romanian Mädchen who is giving him the “fuck me” eyes. At this point the chorus hits, and we see Till, with a bit of blood on his face, lying on the floor, singing the song. The shot goes back and forth between that, and all six members of the band sitting in a circle out in the woods, removing their shirts, and flogging themselves with whips. It’s clear now that these monks are Flagellants, which were practitioners of self-mortification. During the 13th and 14th centuries, Flagellants used to go from village to village whipping themselves to atone for their sins. Or because they never found any good Fetisch clubs.

     In the next verse, the shots alternate between Till getting closer to the girl in public while the other monks look on disapprovingly, and him lying underneath her bed. This part is kind of strange. I don’t know if Till is stalking her, or this is just a dream sequence. I’m leaning towards the latter, because in another shot, he’s sleeping in her bed. During the line in the song “Hat das Röslein nur im Sinn, bringt es seiner Liebsten hin” (Only has the little rose in mind, brings it to his sweetheart) we see the girl rubbing a rose across Till’s face. Till wakes up, and the girl puts the stem in his hands and squeezes, causing him pain. A clear reference to the Röslein stabbing the boy in Goethe’s poem.

     We then go back to the chorus, and the girl has now convinced Till to murder her parents. Till is in their house, stabbing them to death as the malicious #bossbitch stands outside watching and grinning. We see another shot of the band whipping their backs raw. This is probably my favorite shot in the video, because it flows perfectly. The whipping is so fast, and it syncs up really well with the Musik. I think if there’s one secret to a good Musik Video, it’s that the actions need to sync up with the Musik. Till is a Masochist in real life, so I’m guessing he enjoyed filming this video.

     Till then comes out of the girl’s house, covered in Blut, and looking all happy. In what is the second best shot in the video, the evil Schlampe betrays him. She points at him, screaming, while the other monks and the villages rush over to Till, and beat him to the ground.



     Meanwhile, in the scene where Till is under the girl’s bed, his fellow monks flip the bed over, and drag him out. I guess symbolizing him fully realizing what has happened.

     In the end of the video, Till is burnt alive at the stake for murder. The villagers, his monk friends, and his ex-girlfriend toss torches onto the fire causing him to burn to death. And so, as Goethe’s Röslein died at the hands of a selfish Junge, Till dies at the hands of a selfish Mädchen.

     Keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz can be seen holding the girl’s hand as Till dies. I suppose she’s fair game now.

     The final shot is the five monks walking away, as smoke from the fire that consumed Till is seen in the background.

     Rammstein really crams a lot into this video. The references to Goethe’s poem, the story acted out as well as the one told in the song, and the Flagellants were a really nice touch. The village also serves as the perfect place to tell this story.

     If I had to pick one thing I didn’t like, besides the monks being from different orders, it was probably the part where Till is under the girl’s bed singing. It just seems kind of confusing to me why he would be there. Maybe he’s under her to symbolize her dominance over him. I know it’s a Musik video, so not everything has to make sense, but I just felt it didn’t work. Especially during the part where the monks pull him out. It was great when they beat him up outside, but then to also show them finding him under the bed just felt like two different things were happening to the same character at the same time in the story. I did really like when Till was in bed with the girl, though. The part where the thorns prick his hands, like in the poem, was a fucken über reference.

     Overall, it’s a good video. Not one of my all-time favorites, but I definitely enjoyed watching it a few times in order to write this review.

     I really hope Rammstein has at least one more album in them. Deutschland braucht es.

     Bonus Fact: The evil bitch in this video was played by a fourteen year old girl. You’re a dirty man, Till. You too, Flake.