• Rammstein

    Frühling in Paris → English translation→ English

Favorites
Share
Font Size
Translation
Swap languages

Spring in Paris

Clothed in light she came towards me
I remember it like it was yesterday:
I was so young
I was ashamed
But I've never regretted it.
 
She spoke words loudly, right in my face,
her tongue thick² with lust;
The only thing I didn't understand was her language;
I haven't regretted it.
 
"Oh no none of it
I don't regret a thing"¹
 
When I left her skin--
Spring bleeds⁴ in Paris.
 
I didn't know my own body
So shy of the sight of it⁵
She showed it to me in the light
I've never³ regretted it
 
The lips, often sold, still touch
softly, eternally⁶
When I left her mouth
Then I began to freeze
 
She spoke words loudly, right in my face,
her tongue thick with lust;
The only thing I didn't understand was her language;
I haven't regretted it.
 
"Oh no none of it
I don't regret a thing"
 
When I left her skin--
Spring bleeds in Paris.
 
A whispering fell into my lap
and what a subtle sound it had
talked a lot but said nothing
and felt good
 
She spoke words loudly, right in my face,
and bowed down low⁷
The only thing I didn't understand was her language;
I haven't regretted it.
 
"Oh no none of it
I don't regret a thing"
 
When I left her skin--
Spring bleeds in Paris.
 
Original lyrics

Frühling in Paris

Click to see the original lyrics (German)

Please help to translate "Frühling in Paris"
Collections with "Frühling in Paris"
Comments
brightswanbrightswan    Sat, 29/09/2012 - 10:27

Hi fulicasenia,

Rammstein has never been easy to understand, let alone translate. There are many levels to this song, and some of the lines seem out of place to me. Maybe I’m missing something, and perhaps some native Germans could chime in on the expressions used.
To me, this song could be about:

A. Two people losing their virginity.
B. One person taking the other’s virginity.

Here are some suggestions:

1st block:
Line 1: She approached me clothed in (radiance/light). “Dressed” isn’t as clear as “clothed” is. See footnote below. *

2nd block:
Line 1: She shouted words into my face. **
Line 2: her tongue teemed with desire: gesträubt = horrent (archaic) = bristling = (synonyms: burst/teemed/overflowed/buzzed/swarmed).
Line 3: (Only/Just) her language I didn’t understand.
Line 4: I didn’t regret it.

4th block:
Line 1: When I left her skin. (Forsook is archaic and takes away from the translation's overall meaning; if used, I’d use “forsaken;” however, “left” suits the purpose well.
Line 2: (Spring/Springtime) bled in Paris. (The 4th block is one sentence; it stays past tense).

5th block:
Lines 1 and 2: I didn’t know my body shied away like that from the sight,

6th block:
Line 1: This one is hard. It could mean that she’s a prostitute, has the ability to “sell” her lips well, or they are/were kissed often.
Line 2: and they touched forever. – Past tense, look at the whole sentence.
Line 3: When I left her mouth

7th block: See 2nd block.

9th block: see 4th block.

10th block:
Line 1: A whisper fell into my lap ***

11th block:
Line 1: She shouted words into my face
Line 2: and deeply bowed down (low).
Line 3: (Only/Just) her language I didn’t understand.
Line 4: I didn’t regret it.

13th block:
When I left her skin,
(Spring/Springtime) bled in Paris.

* There are a lot of references in the Christian Bible (German) to “Lichtkleid.” Here’s the best internet definition I could find:

Lichtkleid
do a search for “Lichtkleid” it will take you to the middle of the page, answer number 3 by Jan, ex-moderator:

„Waren Adam und Eva vor dem Sündenfall auch schon nackt oder trugen sie ein Lichtkleid, was meine Vorstellung wäre? Ich glaube, dass man im Paradies, wo noch/wieder eine vollkommene Beziehung zu Gott und den Menschen herrscht, die Menschen mit einem Kleid aus Licht oder von Gottes Herrlickeit bekleidet sind(waren/sein werden), schließlich sieht man bei allen Wesen, die aus der Gegenward Gottes kommen, z.B. Engel, Mose vom Berg,.. stakes, blendendes Licht, das höchstwahrscheinlich von Gott kommt, weil er die Quelle aller Herrlichkeit ist.“

** I have trouble with „shout,“ and I’m wondering if there’s another meaning we’re not aware of. Natives?? Is there another meaning?

*** I’d translate that straight. It gives this song direction.

Once you’ve made the changes you choose, pm me and I’ll take another look!! And good luck with it! :)

BestrafeMichBestrafeMich    Tue, 10/04/2018 - 04:11

Pretty sure it's about getting oral from a prostitute then killing her, in Paris.

fulicaseniafulicasenia
   Sun, 30/09/2012 - 03:28

Thanks for all the work you did on this! Where I agreed with your suggestions, I've changed the translation.

I think it's pretty clear that the song is about a prostitute.

Here are some changes I didn't agree with. Sorry to be so argumentative after all your hard work, but... sigh... that's what I'm like ;)

² You seem to have gotten 'horrent' from dict.leo.org and then found English synonyms for it. 'Gesträubt' is the past participle of 'sträuben' and doesn't appear in Duden as a seperate word. 'Sträuben' can mean either hair or feathers horripilating or standing up, or something standing up analogously, or it can mean resisting. 'Her tongue was thick' is my attempt to convey both meanings, erect and resisting (having a thick tongue is a figure of speech for having difficulty enunciating).

³ Since 'nicht bereut' is used in the other choruses, I am sticking with translating 'nie bereut' differently, even though people do tend to use it pretty indiscriminately, leading one to suppose that they do just mean 'don't regret.'

⁴ 'Verließ' is past tense and 'blutet' is present tense; there's no possibility of confusion in either. So, although it sounds strange in English, I'm keeping it that way because it sounds strange in the same way in the original German.

⁵ You can't get 'I didn’t know my body shied away like that from the sight' out of 'Ich kannte meinen Körper nicht / den Anblick so gescheut.' It would 'Ich wusste nicht mein Körper den Anblick so gescheut' at the very closest, and even that is a pretty unlikely way of saying it. So I'm still interpreting it as 'Ich kannte meinen Körper nicht-- hatte den Anblick so gescheut-- doch sie hat ihn mir bei Licht gezeigt.'

⁶ I don't get why you say to look at the whole sentence for the tense of 'berühr'n.' 'Die Lippen oft verkauft' is a participial phrase, and 'verkauft' functions as a participial adjective, not a verb with a tense. 'Beruhren' is the only verb in the sentence, and it's clearly present tense. I am going to translate the whole sentence a bit differently though, having taken a closer look at it. By the way, this sentence is grammatically incorrect in German, and an exact translation would preserve this grammatical mistake, as "Her lips often sold, but softly and eternally they touch."

⁷ dict.leo.org likes 'bow down low' for 'sich tief verbeugen' so I'm keeping it.

brightswanbrightswan    Sat, 29/09/2012 - 19:39
5

Well...it definately looks better than it did earlier today!! Block 6, line 1 and 2 are correct as you have it now. I remember seeing that as an adjective, but then somehow it didn't get written down that way. About the verb tenses...I still think they are past tense, but it's your piece - you can make the changes as you see fit!! I'm glad I was able to help!!

That's all!!

:)

BestrafeMichBestrafeMich    Tue, 10/04/2018 - 04:10

Guys... The song is about getting oral from a prostitute, then killing her in paris.