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Die Zähmung der Hydra (track 02) / Expedition ins O (track 14)
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Oha
Oho
Now follows the story of my mind1
how I lost it and how I found it again,
I want to extol that now with this song
to harmonize myself with my mind again
because I neither know what I do nor where I am.
Yikes a microphone, I hear someone singing here, don't I?
Oh no, it is me, I recognized myself by my voice,
I lost my mind on a summer night beach
and since that time it's hanging there, singing Kumbaya2 by the campfire,
I'd like to have it back but it says "you are fired"
I ask, what do you mean, fired, how can that be, I don't understand
It says "Of course you don't, no understanding without me",
I say, great, and how am I supposed to take that3?
It says "That's easy: Don't draw any conclusions anymore"
I say: Don't draw what anymore? "Well, don't draw any conclusions anymore!4
because he who draws conclusions can't see the light,
mind is distracting, you need to go into the unknown
where never before a person has been to,
into the nameless land called Oho7".
I ask: What?! what's that now? it's a riddle or what?
He says "No, it's the solution, I'd be glad to be you
because you - don't need me - honestly, look at me,
mind is something for beginners, now man up8 please,
you are the river, not the raft,
you are everything you see, and you are nothing of the sort11,
dissolve me, throw me away and you will see
what never before a person has seen,
it's the nameless land called Oho!
Into the waves of viewing12 without words and separation,
linger there for a while because that drives away your confusion13
I'm holding you up, so I'll go, bye and peace"
That's how it was at that time14 when I lost my mind
And when I was completely insane then,
disoriented, confused15 and picked to pieces,
I walked16 through the streets talking to myself,
nothing was coherent anymore, nothing made sense anymore,
my appearance was tattered, my clothes were busted
I drank from puddles and went swimming in the Spree17,
I talked nothing but shit anymore, nobody was listening anymore,
I screamed at myself and was constantly hearing voices
but one day I gave myself to it,
I said: That's you, that's your life, just look at it!
And suddenly everything became silent around me, I knew I had to die,
I thought: Well, okay, that can't do any more harm now,
so I let18 go, didn't say anything anymore and was silent,
I collapsed, broke down and I really
don't want to describe now what happened afterwards,
it was so terrible and so wonderful.
Because all my fears suddenly became a cyclone,
they whirled around me, they wouldn't spare anything,
no stone left upon another, everything broke down,
it was the goddamned demise!
Everything shifted, tore apart into 1000 pieces,
and right in the middle of it my I without anchor, without bridge,
no straw to grasp for, no ground to stand on,
I slowly began to feel it, I knew I had to go.
Where never before a person has been to,
into the nameless land called Oho!
everything hurtled upwards and became gigantic,
I dissolved, became empty and bare,
and understood, my god, I'm the river, not the raft!20
- 1. or "sanity", "senses", "reason"
- 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbaya
- 3. lit. "how should I understand that now". It's phrased in an irritated way
- 4. not sure how to translate that "na"
- 5. lit. "an end line"
- 6. meaning "rule off
- 7. "oha!" (stressed on the last syllable, not on the first as in this song) is an interjection expressing surprise
- 8. lit. "stand your man"
- 9. lit. "ropes loose"
- 10. lit. "give yourself a push"
- 11. lit. "of any of that"
- 12. or "consideration", "observation"
- 13. "Verpeilung" (normally "Verpeiltsein") is a certain kind of confusion, difficult to translate. It's a temporary confusion which leads you to make stupid mistakes that you wouldn't do if you'd thing clearly. Very literally it means "delocation"
- 14. the German line implies that it's long ago
- 15. see footnote 13
- 16. or "ran"
- 17. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spree
- 18. a. b. past tense
- 19. lit. "gave myself a push"
- 20. There are two interpretations for this that come to my mind. Either the river stands for the whole time of once existence whereas the raft is only the current moment. Or the river is the surrounding world (including it's past and future) of which one is merely a part. The metaphor might be partly inspired from the ubiquitous metaphor of one being like a drop in the ocean.
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Give a shoutout to Sciera
Kommentare des Autors:
Sceptizism and/or madness leading to enlightenment? Well, why not...
Shaban & Käptn Peng TOP 3
Idiome in „Oha“
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MutterspracheDeutsch, Deutsch (mitteldeutsche Dialekte)
FließendEnglisch, Deutsch
AnfängerAkkadisch, Chinesisch, Deutsch (Mittelhochdeutsch), Deutsch (Althochdeutsch), Gotisch, Altgriechisch, Japanisch, Latein, Altnordisch, Sanskrit, Spanisch, Sumerisch, Schwedisch
2
Kommentare 2
"I lost my mind on a summernight beach" --> summer night
"you are everything you see, and you are nothing of any of that,"
May I suggest using "of the sort" or "like that" instead?
"Into the waves of viewing without words and seperation," --> separation (I get this word wrong all the time lol)
"nothing was coherent anyore, nothing made sense anymore," --> anymore
"Because all my fears suddenly became a cyclon," --> cyclone
Thank you!