Der Deutsche Michel [English translation]

Not even metaphorically

Your jabber makes sense

A sad sight, sketchy and sly

To top it all off, a spine made of glass1

No point in striking a punch

So we're acting blind

Never saying what we really mean

'Cause what if that ain't true?

... If what ain't true?

You actually think our news aren't spun before they're cast?2

Who casts these news anyway, and into whose bosom?

This bosom rocking you to sleep is incredible

It's so vast, it's all-encompassing and shrouded in legend

But as you look into the corresponding face

You promptly realize how ghastly it is

And that you're lying on the altar to be offered up

Michael the German3is a - CLUNK! - for Germany4

If he thinks he could buy you off

Michael the German is a - CLUNK! - for Germany

If he thinks it's finally over

Michael the German is a - CLUNK! - for Germany

If he thinks I can't do it

[Verse 1]

Michael the German is a - CLUNK! - for Germany

If he gives energy and doesn't take it from you

Unfortunately it doesn't always work out for Germany to become that

We can save him, don't write him off

Michael the German is a - CLUNK! - for Germany

Michael the German can do it for Germany

[Cr7z:]

Night fell when their daywork was done

Now all your loved ones are coming home to rest

A wine for the ladies, a beer for the gents

For the kids a lump of sugar each, refined

Me on the other hand, I stay awake for you, wake over you

Won't allow myself a minute of unmindfulness

Our greatest enemy spies in the shadows cast by the town

It's so outrageous - He's out there on the pulpit

Masking the words' true meanings for laymen as if it were a reference for his resume

Yeah right, we're all such brave people

You soul-suckers, this is a warning for you

I meditate, I listen to the wind, I know who I am

All reasons why I spell fatal danger

And I put blood to the paper

Wasn't it always like that, that you trembled in fear

Of the poets, artists and minstrels?

Woven into a psychological webwork

We find ourselves in utter despair

If we jolt at it to free ourselves

It only grips us tighter

Our Michael strung out by the administration

Held hostage in his armchair via money transfers from the bankers

A world stands on its head through man being estranged from himself

In the mirror image of society

We know that you don't see this case's gravity yet

We know that you soak children's hearts in poison

Should we not sound our country's alarm bells now

A German's sleeping site would become his dying bed

Michael the German is a - CLUNK! - for Germany

1. "Ein gläsernes Kinn haben" ("to have a chin made of glass") is a German expression comparable to "being spineless" in English2. "Nachrichten" (German for "news report"), is a nominalized verb which ironically means "to re-adjust". The literal translation of this line is as follows: "You don't actually think our newscasts aren't re-adjusted, do you?"3. "Der Deutsche Michel" or "The German Michael" is a self-mocking pejorative personification of the German populace dating back to the 16th century. Always depicted wearing a night cap, he is said to be a dreamer in both the best and worst sense of the word; a visionary but also slow and naive. He became the chosen icon of the people during the failed German revolution of 1848.4. "Tor für Deutschland!" ("Goal for Germany!") is a common expression in soccer. But the word Tor is a homonym standing for either a goal in soccer (derived from its original meaning "gate" or "door") or a foolish person. The only English equivalent with this kind of double meaning I could find was "clunk".

• Artist:Söhne Mannheims
• Album:MannHeim (2017)