After listening to the album early Friday morning when it was released, one song stuck with me. A song that had me going through all of the emotions in my body - So strongly it made me shed a tear - Perhaps also out of simply being extremely overwhelmed.
The song, of course, is "Puppe" - Puppet or doll, translated.
The song starts with a simple, rather inconsolable guitar, sadly lulling you into the false sense of security - Possibly foreshadowing the sinister reality of the song, with the eerie guitar in the background - Which is very classic Rammstein: Making a dent in the surface of the emotion to show that there is typically a lot more underneath. I won’t be explaining the entire song, only the keypoints necessary to make my point. The lyric is an adjusted version of Till Lindemann's poem "When mommy goes off late to work” and replaces the mother figure with a sister - The second verse indicating that the sister is also a child, exposing the very dark subject of child prostitution.
Although, I think that figuratively, the lyrics can be interpreted in a lot of different ways.
This song shows an entirely new side of Till and his vocals, which made the song even more impactful, in my humble opinion. His voice is very soft and naive sounding during the verse and bridge - And then explodes into an inferno of madness, anger, hatred, frustration - Insanity.
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However, I feel like the lyrics can be interpreted quite differently as well; Like the antagonist child is one person with the sister in question – A sort of way to separate two parts of the persona. The child in the locked room represents the inner child playing with the doll, being kept away from the monstrosity happening in the other room.Victims of rape or sexual abuse will typically create sort of a safe zone in their minds when these things are happening – A
coping mechanism if you will – So they can live through the horrible things that is happening to them. The child sitting in the room, cradling its doll which represents innocence, now has trouble shutting out what is going on with the sister – A representation of the child in a sexualized manner, perhaps at the hands of a pedophile or rapist. The child hears the screaming, and it rips off the doll’s head – Coming to the conclusion that his/her innocence is lost, and never being able to seperate again. Hence the overwhelming emotional response in the chorus. That very feeling echoes in the mind of abuse victims for the rest of their lives.
I loved this track because I honestly think that “Puppe” is quintessential Rammstein.The lyric balance between the acceptable and unacceptable, the music and the vocals weaver between soft and hard. The lyrics will make you feel hopeless, defeated and then during the chorus, it explodes into all the built up anger, intensity, fear. Some of Rammsteins genius is found in the little details of the music – If you listen closely, you will notice little tweaks between the guitar in the first and second verse -The second verse adds a disharmonic, quite crooked note, almost foreshadowing the insanity during the chorus.In my opinion, this is what Rammstein does best - Invoking all emotions, sending you for a rollercoaster ride and addressing subjects that are considered taboo in our society, forcing people to create an opinion and acknowledge that this is, in fact, the sad reality of some individuals around the world.
Thank you, Rammstein for doing that yet again – Leaving me in tears and full of emotion.
