From Herzeleid · 1995 · Track 6
Du riechst so gut
«You smell so good»
More from the album · Herzeleid
In context
It is not a declaration of love: it is the inner monologue of a predator following its prey by scent. The lyrics never say what the pursuer is —animal, man, something else— and that vagueness is the effect.
- Predation
- Scent
- Literature
- Origin
- The band's first ever single, released on 24 August 1995. The title was inspired by Patrick Süskind's “Perfume” (1985), one of Till Lindemann's favourite novels, in which a man with no scent of his own stalks and kills women to capture theirs. It exists in two forms that should not be confused: the 1995 original and “Du riechst so gut '98”, re-recorded with a shortened intro and released on 17 April 1998.
- Live
- The video for the '98 version, directed by Philipp Stölzl, is the best remembered: the members appear as vampire-like creatures at a masked ball, turn into a pack of wolves and escape. It set the period gothic aesthetic the band would return to in “Rosenrot”.
Our reading
Knowing where the title comes from completely changes how the line sounds. It is the starting point of the discography, and the formula was already in place: heavy guitar, deep voice, ambiguous lyrics and deliberately hard-edged German. What came afterwards was refinement, not a change of direction.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
Original (German)
Du riechst so gut Ich geh dir hinterher
Translation
You smell so good I walk behind you
Verse cited for the purpose of analysis.
The point of view
The first thing to understand about this song is who is speaking. It is not a declaration of love: it is the inner monologue of a predator tracking prey by scent. The lyrics never say what the pursuer is — animal, man, something else — and that indefiniteness is the effect.
The title was inspired by Perfume by Patrick Süskind (1985), one of Till Lindemann’s favourite novels. In that book, a man with no scent of his own stalks and kills women to capture theirs. Knowing that changes entirely how the line “you smell so good” sounds.
Context
It was the band’s first single ever, released on 24 August 1995, from the debut album Herzeleid. It is the starting point of the discography: the formula was already assembled from the outset — heavy guitar, low voice, ambiguous lyrics and deliberately marked German — and what followed was refinement.
The two versions
It exists in two forms, worth keeping straight:
- 1995 — the debut album version and first single.
- “Du riechst so gut ’98” — re-recorded, with a shortened intro, released on 17 April 1998.
The video for the ’98 version was directed by Philipp Stölzl and is the more remembered one: the members appear as vampire-like creatures pursuing a woman to a masquerade ball at a castle. They seduce her into being their meal, transform into a pack of wolves and escape as the castle attendants give chase. By the end, she has turned as well.
It is the video that fixed the period-gothic look the band would return to later in “Rosenrot”.
Translation and notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The full original lyrics belong to their authors.