Rammstein
Seemann

To love them is a dirty job, but someone will have to do it, oh yes … I open by paraphrasing Bonnie Tyler and Todd Rundgren, and perhaps also taking a bit of a trip down memory lane, trying to recall how this great love of mine was born … The reasons are varied, some of which it is not appropriate, for a gentleman of old times like myself, to mention in this public venue. At the root of it all, however, there is simply this: the R+ were something opposite to what I was at that particular moment in my life. So blatantly “in your face,” so exaggerated, so different. I saw them as a kind of exasperated alter-ego of the Queen, and I admired them, how much, how much I admired them and still admire them … In a few words I idolized them; it's inevitable, especially in adolescence. It is a period when one physically needs to dream of something, to have ideals to aspire to, fetishes to worship (and here fits perfectly another great track by Bonnie Tyler); if, growing up, one manages to carry with them some of these fetishes, finding them still Beautiful even through different eyes, then all the better. Between me and them, that's exactly what happened.

To celebrate them my choice is quite predictable, but “Seemann” is one of those songs that lend themselves particularly to inspire words, ravings, and various ramblings: a romantic picture, the decibels decrease in intensity and emerge the elegance and effectiveness of Till Lindemann's songwriting, often overshadowed, in the consideration of most, by the brawls, scenes, frills and jokes devised by the same Rammstein. And they are an integral part of their microcosm, of their show especially, but to work well a show needs solid foundations. Take “Seemann”: it is a sad song that speaks of nostalgia, loneliness, malaise, but Lindemann, Flake and the other four do not make it “weigh” in any way. They shape those feelings into a powerful, theatrical song, of a statuesque expressiveness, Aesthetic. And they do this, they manage to do it well, because they are nothing more, and nothing less, than great entertainers.

In general, I'm not particularly fond of music videos, mostly because they are primarily destined for a format (television) I abandoned years and years ago, but that of “Seemann” (like nearly all of R+'s) has a lot to say, and it is perfectly complementary to the song. Completeness mainly from an aesthetic point of view, especially: black and white, with Our guys portrayed almost like Greek statues, barely movable, in a decadent post-industrial scenario emptied of foreign elements, in which they are the absolute protagonists. In practice, it's a more classically artistic and cleaned-up version of their previous and first video, the original of “Du Riechst So Gut”, the basic idea is always the same, unmistakable. Would that be? Kalòs Kai Agathos, obviously revisited in a modern and tormented key. They learned well the lesson from (muahahahaha) Leni Riefenstahl and made it their own.

The “cover” I drew myself, in further empire of egocentrism and vanity; a small note of color, the shark fin is an allusion to “Haifisch,” another song by Our guys about which I could have written something like this. Which makes me think: this is a music review, but also a bit cinematic and a bit pictorial; has anyone ever done it before me? … In any case, they, as good lovers as they are, are making themselves immensely longed for with their announced new album, awaited now for six years, so in the tormenting but sweet wait it is worth relishing the glories of the past, including "Seemann," both in the original version and covered by Apocalyptica with the Diva Nina Hagen as vocalist (and that's what counts) … and who better than her …

Happy ego-tripping to everyone and goodbye.