From Herzeleid · 1995 · Track 7
Das alte Leid
«The Old Sorrow»
More from the album · Herzeleid
In context
Its working title came from a soundcheck, it keeps an improvised shout the band almost deleted, and it was the first Rammstein music ever played on the radio.
- Studio
- Improvisation
- Firsts
- Origin
- Seventh song on “Herzeleid”, recorded in March 1995 at Polar Studios in Stockholm. The working title was “Hallo Hallo”: when they started recording the demo, Till said those two words just to check that he could be heard through the monitors, and that test phrase ended up identifying the song until it had a final name. On 1 May 1994 a demo was played on “Six-Pack”, on the French radio station NRJ — as far as RammWiki documents, the first time the band was heard on the radio.
- What the band has said
- Paul Landers said the final version includes a very blunt improvised shout that Till let out while they were recording, and that the band argued over whether it sounded too forced or too cheap to keep. The vote was tied three to three, and after hearing it in a working mix they decided to keep it.
- Live
- Debuted on 2 July 1994 and was played 22 times up to 12 October 1996.
Our reading
This is the entry that best shows how much of the first album was accident that got kept. Two of the three things the song is remembered for —the title and the shout— were not planned: they were left in.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
A title born from a sound check
The working title was “Hallo Hallo”: at the start of recording the demo, Till Lindemann said those two words just to check whether he could hear himself through the monitors, and that throwaway line — never meant to stay on the tape — ended up identifying the song until it had a final name.
The finished version includes a very direct, sexually toned improvised shout between the second chorus — Till simply yelled whatever came to mind while recording. According to Paul Landers, the band debated whether it sounded too cheap or forced to keep: the vote split evenly three to three, and after hearing it in a work-in-progress mix, they decided to keep it.
A first in the band’s history
On 1 May 1994, a demo of this song aired on “Six-Pack,” a show on French radio station NRJ — as far as RammWiki documents, the first time Rammstein’s music was ever played on the radio.
Context
Seventh track on Herzeleid, recorded in March 1995 at Polar Studios in Stockholm, released 25 September of that year.
Live
It debuted on 2 July 1994 and was played 22 times through 12 October 1996. During the 1996 Herzeleid Tour, the staging picked up provocative elements typical of that early stage of the band.
Notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The original lyrics belong to their authors and are not reproduced in this entry.