From Liebe ist für alle da · 2009 · Track 11
Roter Sand
«Red sand»
More from the album · Liebe ist für alle da
In context
A western duel told by the one who dies. It begins with a promise and with the immediate confession that he is going to break it.
- Duel
- Western
- Narrated death
- Origin
- From “Liebe ist für alle da” (2009). According to Paul Landers, the original version was written by Oliver Riedel, Till Lindemann and Flake after drinking a bottle of red wine, and it was called “Liese”.
- The German key
- It is the most stripped-back piece on the album: acoustic guitar, strings and whistling by Jenny Rosemeyer, Flake's wife. The western arrangement isn't there as parody — it works for real.
- What the band has said
- Landers told the story of the song's origin and its earlier title.
- Live
- There is no record of it being played live.
Our reading
The album's special edition includes both “Liese” — with a different arrangement and lyrics — and an orchestral version of “Roter Sand” with a different vocal take in the chorus. It is one of the few cases where the official catalogue lets you see the before and after of the same melody.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
Original (German)
Roter Sand und zwei Patronen Eine stirbt im Pulverkuss
Translation
Red sand and two cartridges one dies in the kiss of powder
Verse cited for the purpose of analysis.
A four-minute western
The song is a duel, and the man narrating it is the one who dies. It opens with a promise — one love, one promise: it said “I will come back to you” — and with the immediate admission that he is about to break it, because the other man’s bullet is already inside him.
What follows is the whole scene in miniature: two pistols, one aimed at his face, a rival who accuses him of stealing the woman and does not know that she loves him. Two cartridges: one dies in the kiss of powder, the other does not spare its target and ends up buried in the narrator’s chest. Blood runs from his mouth, nobody will avenge him, and he goes down for nothing.
Musically it is the barest piece on the record: acoustic guitar, strings, and a whistle performed by Jenny Rosemeyer, Flake’s wife. The western arrangement is not there as parody; it plays straight.
It used to be called “Liese”
According to Paul Landers, the original version was written by Oliver Riedel, Till Lindemann and Flake after they had drunk a bottle of red wine, and it was called “Liese”. It was later reworked into “Roter Sand” with input from the rest of the band.
Both survive. The special edition of Liebe ist für alle da includes “Liese” — with different arrangement and different lyrics — as well as an orchestral version of “Roter Sand” with another vocal take on the chorus. It is one of the few cases where the band’s official catalogue shows the before and after of the same melody.
A detail from the booklet
The album booklet prints “Die zweite soll ihr Ziel nicht schonen” for every chorus, although Till sings “sollt” in the second and the last. It is the kind of discrepancy that only surfaces when someone sits down to compare the page with the recording.
Context
Eleventh and final track on Liebe ist für alle da (16 October 2009), recorded in 2008 in California. It closes a record that opens with “Rammlied” and passes through “Ich tu dir weh” and “Pussy”: after the scandal, a cowboy ballad.
Translation and notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The full original lyrics belong to their authors.