Toilet Guppies' quest to discover, once and for all, the truth about love—through modern song—continues…
Einstürzende Neubauten feat. Meret Becker: «Stella Maris» (single edit) [mp3]It's almost impossible to spot the blurry line that separates love from wishful thinking. A long line of biologists, psychologists, neuroscientists, sociologists and cynics stand ready to ridicule your instincts with their undeniable facts and persuasive arguments whenever that warm, fuzzy feeling casts all reason aside and grabs you by your lipstick-smeared lapel, stuffs a carnation on it, slaps some eau de toilette on your bewildered face, quickly checks your breath and pushes you on your way to some hopefully holy union…
But the party-pooping naysayers are forgetting that love resists rationalisation. That's why whenever some romantic, some Shakespeare or Browning, starts counting the ways they love thee, they're talking absolute gibberish. You could always say you love your special friend because they're «pretty» and «funny», &c., but how many millions of people are pretty and funny? You're not in love with all of them, are you? If it were that simple, you could choose who to fall in love with, and when… No, there's an inscrutable, irreducible, ineffable something-or-other about this love business. Some elusive thing to do with what we call chemistry, spark, whatever. Fact is you can't pinpoint love any more than the scientists, who'll dismiss anything that resists explanation for long (and sorry, scientists, but facial symmetry, pheromones, child-bearing hips and a creepy likeness to one's opposite-sex parent simply won't do), leaving it up to Hope and Doubt to fight it out in the boxing ring they've made of your thumping, heaving chest.
All of which hardly helps us, as we try to tell whether there's actually something real going on here, or whether we're just imagining things. And since love seems so unreal, all the more fitting that Einstürzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld—poet of geography, astronomy, physiology, all things nautical and, perhaps surprisingly for an infamous speedfreak, dreams—describes love in the language of dreams, as a dream, as he and the subject of his affections (sung by Meret Becker) go in search of each other. But shall the 'twain ever meet?
But the party-pooping naysayers are forgetting that love resists rationalisation. That's why whenever some romantic, some Shakespeare or Browning, starts counting the ways they love thee, they're talking absolute gibberish. You could always say you love your special friend because they're «pretty» and «funny», &c., but how many millions of people are pretty and funny? You're not in love with all of them, are you? If it were that simple, you could choose who to fall in love with, and when… No, there's an inscrutable, irreducible, ineffable something-or-other about this love business. Some elusive thing to do with what we call chemistry, spark, whatever. Fact is you can't pinpoint love any more than the scientists, who'll dismiss anything that resists explanation for long (and sorry, scientists, but facial symmetry, pheromones, child-bearing hips and a creepy likeness to one's opposite-sex parent simply won't do), leaving it up to Hope and Doubt to fight it out in the boxing ring they've made of your thumping, heaving chest.
All of which hardly helps us, as we try to tell whether there's actually something real going on here, or whether we're just imagining things. And since love seems so unreal, all the more fitting that Einstürzende Neubauten's Blixa Bargeld—poet of geography, astronomy, physiology, all things nautical and, perhaps surprisingly for an infamous speedfreak, dreams—describes love in the language of dreams, as a dream, as he and the subject of his affections (sung by Meret Becker) go in search of each other. But shall the 'twain ever meet?
STELLA MARIS
Ich träum' ich treff' dich ganz tief unten
I dream I'll meet you deep, deep down
Der tiefste Punkt der Erde, Marianengraben, Meeresgrund
The deepest point on Earth, Mariana Trench, ocean bottom
Zwischen Nanga Parbat, K2 und Everest
Between Nanga Parbat, K2 and Everest
Das Dach der Welt dort
The crest of the world
Geb' ich dir ein Fest
There you'll be my banquet guest
Wo nichts mehr mir die Sicht verstellt
Where nothing more can impede my vision
Wenn du kommst, seh' ich dich kommen schon vom Rand der Welt
When you come I'll see you coming from the world's margin
Es gibt nichts Interessantes hier
Here there's nothing of interest
Die Ruinen von Atlantis nur
Just the ruins of Atlantis
Aber keine Spur von dir
But of you, not a trace
Ich glaub' du kommst nicht mehr
I don't think you're coming anymore
Wir haben uns im Traum verpasst
We missed each other in our dreams
Du träumst mich ich dich
You dream me, I you
Keine Angst ich weck' dich nicht
Don’t worry, I won't wake you
Bevor du nicht von selbst erwachst
Before you wake up yourself
Über's Eis in Richtung Nordpol dort werd' ich dich erwarten
Across the ice towards the North Pole is where I'll expect you
Werde an der Achse steh'n
I'll be standing on the axis
Aus Feuerland in harter Traumarbeit zum Pol
From Tierra del Fuego in hard dream labour to the pole
Wird alles dort sich nur um uns noch dreh'n
There everything will revolve only around us
Der Polarstern direkt über mir
The Pole Star directly above me
Dies ist der Pol ich warte hier
This is the pole, I'll wait here
Nur dich kann' ich weit und breit noch nirgends kommen seh'n
Only I cannot see you coming from anywhere for miles around
Ich wart' am falschen Pol
I'm waiting at the wrong pole
Wir haben uns im Traum verpasst
We missed each other in our dreams
Du träumst mich ich dich
You dream me, I you
Keine Angst ich weck' dich nicht
Don’t worry, I won't wake you
Bevor du nicht von selbst erwachst
Before you wake up yourself
Bitte, bitte weck' mich nicht
Please, please don’t wake me
Solang ich träum' nur gibt es dich…
Only as long as I dream do you exist…
Wir haben uns im Traum verpasst
We missed each other in our dreams
Du träumst mich ich dich
You dream me, I you
Keine Angst ich weck' dich nicht
Don’t worry, I won't wake you
Bevor du nicht von selbst erwachst
Before you wake up yourself
Lass' mich schlafend heuern auf ein Schiff
Enlist in slumber on a ship
Kurs: Eldorado, Punt das ist dein Heimatort
Course: El Dorado, punt, that's your home
Warte an der Küste such' am Horizont
Wait on the coast, look on the horizon
Bis endlich ich sehe deine Segel dort
Until at last I see your sails there
Doch der Käpt'n ist betrunken
But the captain is always drunk
Und meistens unter Deck
And mostly below deck
Ich kann im Traum das Schiff nicht steuern
I can't steer this ship in my wildest dreams
Eine Klippe schlägt es Leck
On a cliff it springs a leak
Im Nordmeer ist es dann gesunken
In the North Sea it then sunk
Ein Eisberg treibt mich weg
An iceberg drives me back
Ich glaub' ich werde lange warten
I think I'll be waiting for long
Punt bleibt unentdeckt
Punt stays undiscovered
Wir haben uns im Traum verpasst
We missed each other in our dreams
Du träumst mich ich dich
You dream me, I you
Keine Angst ich weck' dich nicht
Don't worry, I won't wake you
Bevor du nicht von selbst erwachst
Before you wake up yourself
Du träumst mich ich dich
You dream me, I you
Keine Angst ich finde dich
Don't worry, I'll find you
Am Halbschlafittchen pack' ich dich
Collared in a doze I'll grab you
Und ziehe dich zu mir
And pull you towards me
Denn du träumst mich ich dich
For you dream me, I you
Ich träum' dich du mich
I dream you, you me
Wir träumen uns beide wach
We dream each other awake
(The full-length album version of «Stella Maris», complete with the last verse as given in the lyrics above, is available to buy on the new reissue of Ende Neu, here.)
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