Songs

Der Meister is one of the songs that didn't occur many changes in structure or lyrics before getting recorded for Herzeleid. Besides being the second on the album it was also the second track on the Seemann single. It is to be assumed that the song was intended as double A-side single, due to a promo CD of said single titled Seemann / Der Meister and the discovery of an unreleased remix by Milch of the song on an internal DAT tape, given that Der Meister was featured as the second track and Seemann got a remix on it as well as the timeframe of the remix production. It's not known why the remix wasn't released.

The song features samples of a car drifting and crashing.

Der Meister was a live staple since the Club tour, being featured in the early set portion as third or fourth song and moved down on the set for early Sehnsucht era shows, before being omitted when the bigger production of the Sehnsucht headline tour started making its last appearance on 30 August 1997. The song's live performance featured a microphone stand being destroyed, when Till would grab and smash it on the ground before snapping it in half and throwing it away.

Lyrics and translation

Seemann is named Matrose or Der Seeman on different demo tapes. Despite the different naming, all demo tapes include the same version of the song, with slight mixing differences. The biggest change done to it in the process of producing the album was changing the song's structure; the demo had all verses back to back before ending with several repetitions of the chorus lines, and some whistling as well. It was also part of the 9-track promo tape with its rough mixes / mixes tracklist. On Herzeleid, the song has Emanuel Fialik, their manager at the time credited for additional production.

Seemann became Rammstein's second single on 8 January 1996, accompanied by a music video shot by Laszlo Kadar. The video uses a shorter edit of the song, cutting the first chorus in half. Initially, it was likely intended to be a double A-side single together with Der Meister, which is evident by a promo CD titled Seemann / Der Meister and the existence of a remix for each song. A remix, called Rammstein in the House is a full-on house remix done by Timewriter and includes very few elements of Seemann, namely the bird chirping sample and the intro bassline which appear in the bridge only.

By the nature of being a ballad, the song got included as part of the piano renditions compilation "Klavier".

The live shows had Seemann put within the encore for the early shows, and being kept pretty much in the middle of the main set later on, where it could serve as calmer break for both band and audience. It would remain there until the autumn 1997 headline tour, because both Wilder Wein and Klavier claimed said calm break within the setlist, making Seemann move to the second encore, ultimately closing the concert. After that tour leg, that change reverted back to the middle position for the remainder of the tour, except where shows were quite short in playtime. Exceptionally, the song closed the show again on the German dates chosen to be recorded for Live aus Berlin. Seemann got brought back for the first batch of LIFAD tour dates to open the second encore, before getting kicked. Up until then, Flake used to ride in a boat on top of the crowd. It returned in 2016 for the whole run of dates up to New Year's Eve 2019 in Mexico. Flake was now simply offstage during most of the song until before the last chorus.

Lyrics and translation

The working title for this song was Kinski because the song uses a riff from the Magdalene Keibel Combo song Klaus Kinski. According to the GEMA database, another working title was Heirate mich in Berlin. The song was played at the band's early shows in 1994. The song had a different structure. It didn't feature any breaks inbetween where the final version's chorus was, and didn't have a chorus chanting Heirate Mich! Hei! Hei! Hei! yet, instead the Dort bei den Glocken verbring ich die Nacht (…) pre-chorus served as a chorus. It also featured an extensive drum part from Schneider as well as car alarm samples in the second part and at the end of the song. The guitar solo and a final chorus appered after So nehm ich was noch übrig ist (…) verse which ended the song on the album. Another minor difference is that the song featured slightly different guitar riffs for the main portion of the song, as well as the chorus.

The song's earliest known studio version is only found on the 9-track promo tape, that includes mixes and rough mixes without specification on which songs are one of both. Two years after the album's release, it would play a key role in the band's success in the US, when it was used in the movie Lost Highway and ultimately its soundtrack too, both using an abridged, edited version omitting some repetitions of the main riff as well as everything from the guitar solo onwards.

This prominent exposure of the track led to its underground hit status. The song saw many simple extensions and changes to both the intro and outro. A series of effects, mostly using exploding dolls would emphasize the drum hits in the intro as well as echoing Till's vocals from his outro yell. A new addition in 1997 was the extended bridge, repeating Heirate mich several times, while Till walked on his knees to various band members on stage. Only during the headline tour in autumn 1997, the intro got cut and an extension using guitars faded into Wollt ihr das Bett in Flammen sehen?. When performing at the Big Day Out Festival in 2001, Paul would now ride the inflatable boat normally used during Seemann on prior tour legs, during the extended bridge and the outro was replaced by an additional chorus. The song made appearances during the North American leg of the Mutter tour, before disappearing for 18 years! It got brought back during the 2019 Stadium tour, with the whole song structure as well as the extended bridge.

Lyrics and translation

The self-titled song was the first one the whole band wrote together. It's also the only song that the band wrote lyrics together as a band. The lyrics were written in Till's village pub on a bar check. The band members imagined if they were on the scene of the 1988 airshow disaster at the Ramstein base. We visualized everything practically in images, each of us made a draft and suddenly, the lyrics were ready. said Schneider.

The song had various lengths on different demo tapes. The most wide-spread version came off the 6 Track Demo 3, which was preliminary cut during the middle of the third verse. Another cut version appeared on 6-Track Demo 2, this time cut after the third verse. A full version of the demo appeared on the band's self-released demo tape as well as on Time for a Cut, a Metal Hammer sampler compilation from 1995, which promoted the then rather unknown band. The demo version had a very short intro, beginning only with a jet engine, as opposed to the famous synth intro known from the album version. The demo also had the guitar solo at the end of the song, that faded out. The album version had the first guitar solo after the third verse, which wasn't the case in the demo. Also, the demo version was one minute longer than the album version. The lyrics remained the same.

The song uses an airplane engine sound sample, which was previously used in Feeling B's Slamersong.

Two years after the album's release, it would play a key role in the band's success in the US, when it was used in the movie Lost Highway and ultimately its soundtrack too. Just like Heirate mich, the soundtrack included an edited and abridged version of the song.

Altough never released as a standalone single, the song was released on the Engel single in 1997. The video for the song is a mix of concert footage from Berlin Arena 1996 and movie scenes from Lost Highway and was released during early 1997.

Rammstein's performances would always open with this song until 1997 with by far the most iconic stageact known to the public, even to people outside the fandom. Usually consisting of an inflammable coat, it made actually usage of two firework fountains before the coat in 1994 with Till wearing a Schlitzbrille, special sun protection goggles with tiny vision slots, said to have been made for alpine hunters. When the coat was first used it consisted only of a black suit top with chainmill-like sleeves, from which only the right one was lit on fire. The coat got replaced in late 1996 by a full-length version, including a longer backside and a collar, which enhanced the flammable surface. Beginning with 1997, the song would open the encore and itself got performed with a remixed portion, using the Eskimos & Egypt version after the first verse, most known from the Bizarre 1997 proshot (video below). Dropping the remix part for the headline tour in 1997, the song would get performed on a moving platform designed like a boxing ring with Till wearing laserpointer goggles. Occasionally, Flake joined him to roast sausages on his burning back. Both Live aus Berlin concerts featured an elevator within the main stage from which Till would arise with the ignited coat. The band cranked it up a notch during the "Mutter" tour where Till would perform the song while wearing a flameproof mask resembling his own face, as well as a flameproof suit underneath the coat. After the song's second verse, Till would catch fire and Flake would come to his aid with a fire extinguisher. However, Flake's extinguisher would be filled with flammable powder, making the fire even worse. Till would get down on the ground where crewmembers would come to actually put out the fire. The entire performance would be stopped during this stunt, for a more dramatic effect. Till would eventually stand up, revealing his protective clothing and mask to the audience before finishing the song. The act was dropped because it would shock the audience too much and people did not know how to react. The coat was dropped from the Reise, Reise tour on, where Till sported an exoskeleton with big flamethrowers mounted on the arms. The song then disappeared until 2013, where its intro made an appearance before Bück dich, teasing the fans. For this occasion flamethrower guitars were used for the first time. The full song finally had its comeback during the 2019 Stadium tour with Till now wearing a flamethrower backpack, which shoots in nine directions all around his back. The song structure was slighty altered, replacing the third verse with a second guitar solo after a new break.

Lyrics and translation

Nothing is known about this song. It is unclear whether it is an unknown unreleased song or just a working title of some known song.

The only time it was played live was in Lobenstein on 15 December 1995.