From Mutter · 2001 · Track 8
Zwitter
«Hermaphrodite»
More from the album · Mutter
In context
A narrator split into two halves that coexist, compete and end up fusing into one, finding in that very division a strange way of becoming whole.
- Identity
- Narcissism
- Self-sufficiency
- Origin
- Eighth song on “Mutter”, recorded in 2000 at Studio Miraval in Correns, France, produced by Jacob Hellner, mixed by Stefan Glaumann and mastered by Howie Weinberg. Its working title was “Flake-Blues”, a reference to the keyboardist. It was never a single.
- The German key
- “Zwitter” is the German term for an organism with both male and female characteristics. The song uses it as a metaphor, not as a clinical description.
- Live
- Debuted on 16 April 2000, before the album came out, and was played 74 times up to 13 July 2002, almost exclusively on the Mutter Tour. The live version was extended with an instrumental outro in which Richard Kruspe smashed his guitar while Till choreographed the mic stand.
Our reading
Some critics hear it as a song about narcissism and bisexuality told from that double body; others read it as an image of self-sufficiency, someone who no longer needs anyone because they are enough for themselves. Rammstein, true to form, have not settled which is “the” interpretation, and the archive will not do it for them.
The archive's interpretation, not an official account.
Two in one
Zwitter is the German term for an organism with both male and female characteristics — “hermaphrodite.” The song uses it as a metaphor for a narrator split into two halves that coexist, compete, and end up merging into one. There’s no single settled reading: part of the audience hears it as a song about narcissism and bisexuality told from that double body; another part reads it as an image of self-sufficiency — someone who no longer needs anyone else because he’s already whole on his own. True to form, Rammstein have never settled which of the two is “the” interpretation.
Context
Eighth track on Mutter, recorded in 2000 at Studio Miraval in Correns, France, produced by Jacob Hellner, mixed by Stefan Glaumann at Toytown Studios in Stockholm, and mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk in New York. Its working title was “Flake-Blues,” after keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz. It was never released as a single.
Live
It debuted on 16 April 2000, before the album even came out, and was played 74 times through 13 July 2002 — almost entirely during the Mutter Tour. The live version stretched into an extended instrumental outro in which Richard Kruspe destroyed his guitar while Till Lindemann choreographed the mic stand.
Notes by Rammstein Colombia, for the purpose of analysis. The original lyrics belong to their authors and are not reproduced in this entry.