From Zeit · 2022 · Track 2
Zeit
«Time»
More from the album · Zeit
In context
No irony and no sinister character: a direct plea for time to stand still and for the good moment not to end.
- Passage of time
- Old age
- Plea
- Origin
- The first single and title track of the eighth album, released on 10 March 2022. It reached number 1 in Germany — the band's third — and number 2 in Switzerland, went gold (300,000 units) and was nominated for Best Single at the 2022 Kerrang! Awards.
- The German key
- The verb in the key phrase is “bleib stehen” — literally “stay standing”, what you say to someone to make them stop moving. Here it is said to time: an order that cannot be obeyed, and the song knows it. That is where all its force lies.
- What the band has said
- The band has not offered a public reading; the register speaks for itself.
- Live
- In the setlist since the 2022 tour, in the show's quieter moments.
Our reading
It is a change of register worth pointing out to anyone who comes to Rammstein through “Du hast” or “Amerika”: the band that does pyrotechnics also writes this. Robert Gwisdek's video reinforces it — time runs in two directions at once, with births in reverse and life and death in the same shot. The image says what the lyric asks for and cannot achieve.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
Original (German)
Zeit, bitte bleib stehen
Translation
Time, please stand still
Verse cited for the purpose of analysis.
A plea, not a threat
Rammstein has a reputation for provocation, and much of the catalogue earns it. “Zeit” does not. The song is a direct, unironic request: let time stop, let the good moment not end.
The verb in the key line is bleib stehen — literally “stay standing”, what you say to someone so they will not move. They say it to time. It is an order that cannot be obeyed, and the song knows it: that is where its whole force sits. There is no threat and no sinister character; there are older people watching something run out.
It is a shift in register worth flagging for anyone who arrives at Rammstein through “Du hast” or “Amerika”: the band that does the pyrotechnics also writes this.
Context
Released on 10 March 2022 as the first single and title track of the eighth album, Zeit. It reached No. 1 in Germany — the band’s third single to do so — No. 2 in Switzerland, went Gold in Germany (300,000 units) and was nominated for the 2022 Kerrang! Award for Best Single.
The video
Directed by Robert Gwisdek and premiered the same day at 17:00 CET. Its central device is time running in two directions at once: births happen in reverse, and life and death occur simultaneously in the same shot. The image states what the lyrics ask for and do not get.
Interpretation
Commentators have also read an allusion to Plato’s allegory of the cave in the song’s handling of what is perceived versus what is. That is a reading by critics, not something the band has stated — we note it as interpretation, not as fact.
Translation and notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The full original lyrics belong to their authors.