Du hast
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"Du hast" is a song by the German Tanz-Metall band Rammstein from the album Sehnsucht as track #5. The song is one of the band's best known in the United States, owing to its inclusion on the Soundtrack of The Matrix and heavy airplay on MTV. It was also featured in the intro to the movie CKY2K.
The video for the song was influenced by Reservoir Dogs.
Meaning
The whole song is a play on German wedding vows (Wollt Ihr einander lieben und achten und die Treue halten, bis dass der Tod euch scheide? - Do you want to love and respect each other and to remain faithful, until death separates you?). Instead of answering with "Ja" (yes), the singer says "Nein" (no) , finally answering the question he said "nothing" to in the beginning.
The title is commonly interpreted as "You have", but is really a long play on words: du hast means "you have", while du hasst, spelled differently but pronounced nearly the same, means "you hate".
As an aside, it is interesting to note that a similar pun would have been possible in Early Modern English using thou, the now-obsolete cognate of German du. "You have" would be thou hast, while "you hate" would be thou hatest.
The pun is illustrated by a comparison of the German version, a literal English translation, and the band's non-literal English version of the song.
| German lyrics | Literal English translation | The band's non-literal English version |
| Du | You | You |
| Du hast | You have | You hate |
| Du hast mich | You have me | You hate me |
| Du hast mich gefragt | You have asked me | You hate me to say |
| Du hast mich gefragt und ich habe nichts gesagt | You have asked me and I have said nothing | You hate me to say and I did not obey |
| Willst du bis der Tod euch scheidet | Do you want until death does you part | Will you until death does sever |
| Treu ihr sein für alle Tage? | To be faithful to her for all days? | Be upright to her forever? |
| Nein | No | Never |
| Willst du bis zum Tod, der scheide | Do you want until the death of the vagina / death which would separateTemplate:Fn | Will you 'til death be her rider |
| Sie lieben auch in schlechten Tagen? | To love her also in bad days? | Her lover too, to stay inside her? |
| Nein | No | Never |
Template:FnbA play on words wherein "scheide" can be a conjunctive form of "scheiden" (to separate), or the noun "Scheide" (archaic/slang for "vagina").
Track listing
- Du hast (Single Version)
- Bück dich (Album Version)
- Du hast (Jacob Hellner Remix)
- Du hast (Clawfinger Remix)