Need help translating and understanding this weird German?/English song

January 31, 2025 8:26 AM

I can kind of follow most of it with my broken German. But I'm kinda fascinated by the mixture of German (or is it something else?) and English phraseology. Does this reflect a certain slang or dialect? Does it contain sarcasm or such that I'm missing? Would love help with the dualingus. Moll - Feinde
posted by es_de_bah to Writing & Language (7 answers total)

I would characterize it as leaning hard into Denglisch.
posted by jedicus at 8:54 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Best answer: There are also some elements of Kiezdeutsch (e.g. "bleibma", "lassma")

The lyricist is Austrian, but I didn't get the impression that there was a lot of Austrian German in the lyrics.

Here's a stab at the lyrcs:

The honeymoon suite is canceled
We don't love each other

Whom should we still tell
Why keep struggling

Hey, you were never correct with the deals
[You] just hid it well

I believed it all
You ruined it
C'mon

Let's stay enemies
Let's leave each other alone

No open questions
Every door closed

Let's stay enemies
We're so clever

We won't be friends
Sorry, sorry

At the last second
You went so crazy
You're not yourself anymore

That was a bad move
You're destroying your reputation

Peace I don't care about that*
Nice try
But let's give up

Look, you just make me stressed
Oh, til I forget it

[Chorus]

* This is a little tricky to translate. It appears to be word play between "Friede pfeife ich darauf" ("I don't care about peace") and "Friedenspfeif" ("peace pipe"), suggesting something like "Peace pipe? I don't care about that")
posted by jedicus at 9:15 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

(probably irrelevant nitpick: the bleibma lassma in this case are not Kiezdeutsch but (mild) Austrian dialect. The ma suffix here stands for wir, as in bleiben wir, not mal as in bleib mal for Kiezdeutsch? )
posted by meijusa at 10:12 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]

There are indeed not that many Austrianisms in the lyrics, apart from the bleibma and lassma mentioned above. One that stuck out was „simma so gescheit“ (let‘s be smart/reasonable/mature enough), in German German, one would say klug or vernünftig instead. Simma is another Dialect construction that contains an imperative version of the verb and the subject, seien wir so gescheit. Although it could also be a question, are we that smart (sind wir). The accent is definitely Austrian, Eastern.
posted by meijusa at 10:21 AM on January 31 [3 favorites]

Thank you for the corrections! I don't think it changes the translation much (I had already opted for "Let's stay enemies"), but the details are important. I'm not very good at recognizing accents in sung rather than spoken German (or sung vs spoken English, for that matter).
posted by jedicus at 10:39 AM on January 31 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks you guys, so much. I had a sense that it wasn't quite german. You're the best!
[edit: love getting a good foreign language pun!]
posted by es_de_bah at 10:57 AM on January 31

Viennese here.
Lukas Meschik, aka Moll, is a Viennese singer ,/songwriter and also a published literary writer and poet.
Meschik was born in Vienna in 1988, and still lives here. His German (in this and other songs) is absolutely typical for a Viennese of his generation and younger. This is how well-educated Viennese sound 🌝

I translated it, i think it is about disillusion, abused trust, someone pretending to be casual about ending a difficult and painful friendship, possibly with a band member or manager, not necessarily a lover (wir ham uns nicht lieb means we don't like each other and is not as intense as we don't love each other).
If you read German check out his latest book , Vaterbuch.

Die Honeymoon Suite ist gecancelt
Wir ham (haben) uns nicht lieb.
The Honeymoon Suite has been cancelled.
We don't like each other.

Wem sollen wir noch erzählen
warum sich quälen.
Who to tell tales
Why torture ourselves

Hey du warst nie korrekt
mit den Deals
Hast es nur gut versteckt.
Your deals never were straight
You just hid it well.

Ich hab alles geglaubt
das hast du dir verbaut.
I was gullible
and you ruined that for yourself.

Komm
Bleib ma (wir) lieba Feinde
Lass ma (wir) uns in Ruh.
So lets remain enemies
and leave each other alone.

Keine Fragen offen
Alle Türen zu.
Nothing left to discuss
All doors closed.

Bleibma lieber Feinde
Lassma uns in Ruh.
So lets remain enemies
and leave each other alone.

Bleibma lieber Feinde simma (sein wir) so gescheit.
So lets be smart and remain enemies

Wir werden keine Freunde
Sorry tut mir leid.
We can never become Friends
Sorry about that.

Im allerletzten Moment drehst du durch
Dass man dich nicht mehr kennt.
Just before the end you totally lose the plot become an unrecognisable stranger

Das war kein guter move
du zerlegst deinen Ruf.
Which was not a good move as it ruins your reputation

Friedenspfeifich drauf
netter Versuch
Nice try but fuck you.

Aber geben wir's auf
Schau du machst mir nur Stress
Oh bis ich mich vergess
So lets call it a day, as you stress me out beyond my breaking point

Drum
Bleibma lieber Feinde
simma (sein wir) so gescheit.
Wir werden keine Freunde
Sorry tut mir leid.
Bleibma lieber Feinde simma (sein wir) so gescheit.
So lets be smart and remain enemies

Wir werden keine Freunde
Sorry tut mir leid.
We can never become Friends
Sorry about that.
posted by 15L06 at 3:41 PM on January 31 [5 favorites]