Mother (album)

	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	mother
	Singles
	Sun
	Left 2 3 4
	I want
	mother
	Open fire!
	my heart is burning

chronology
mother
Studio album by
Publication ; (s)	April 2, 2001
Label (s)	Motor Music
Format (s)	CD , LP
Genre (s)	New German Hardness
Title (number)	11/12
running time	44:55 min.
occupation	Singing : Till Lindemann ; Guitar : Richard Kruspe ; Guitar: Paul Landers ; Bass : Oliver Riedel ; Drums : Christoph Schneider ; Keyboard : Christian Lorenz ;
production	Jacob Hellner and Rammstein
Studio (s)	Studio Miraval, South of France
February 12, 2001	Sun
May 14, 2001	Left 2 3 4
September 10, 2001	I want
March 25, 2002	mother
October 14, 2002	Open fire!
December 7, 2012	my heart is burning

Mutter is the third studio album by the German band Rammstein . It was released on April 2, 2001.

General

Emergence

From September to December 1999 the band rented the Weimar house in Heiligendamm on the Baltic Sea for pre-production . The sound recordings were made from May to June 2000 in the Miraval studio in southern France. Rammstein made the song Links 2 3 4 available for download on their website over Christmas 2000 . The video was released in January 2001 and the single Sonne in February .

Mood of the texts

In 2001, in Die Zeit , that which "breaks out of the fists" in the sun was interpreted as an atom bomb or a supernova. At the same time, the author of the article, Thomas Gross, wondered whether the title song Mutter was singing about "technology flagellation, human twilight, gender debate". In the play music box was so big of a "gnome" is mentioned. So he starts from a critical, perhaps romantic, view of the album on modernity. Swantje-Britt Koerner supports Gross' thesis regarding the text of the title piece.

Versions

The album was released in different versions, initially as a normal CD and in Germany also as a vinyl LP. In addition, a digipack was released that was exported to other countries. Another double CD edition with the video of "Sun" and the piece Hallelujah was released in the USA. The Japanese version contains Hallelujah two minutes delayed - as a so-called " hidden track " - after the end of the regular CD. The album was later released as a limited tour edition, which contains four live tracks on a second CD. The cover remained unchanged except for the color, which turned red.

The Japanese version has been pressed on vinyl since 2013, but it is only a so-called bootleg , or more precisely, a counterfeit. It also contains the song Hallelujah (h) , but in two different versions: Once as Hallelujah (with choirs at the beginning) and once as "Hallelujah h " (without choirs at the beginning).

Graphic design

The cover of the album shows the photo of a fetus in the womb. The tabloid press criticized the cover with the statement that the fetus had died. In the booklet, the band members are shown individually and together, floating in a liquid in the style of the cover photo. The artist couple Daniel & Geo Fuchs were responsible for the cover and booklet images .

success

In the 16th week of the year 2001, mother entered the German charts at number one and stayed there for four weeks before falling to number two. The album stayed in the charts for a total of 82 weeks. For more than 600,000 copies sold, the album was awarded double platinum in Germany .

The album stayed at number 1 in the Austrian charts for two weeks and was awarded gold.

Track list

#	title	length
1	my heart is burning	4:39
2	Left 2 3 4	3:36
3	Sun	4:32
4th	I want	3:37
5	Open fire!	3:08
6th	mother	4:28
7th	Music box	4:46
8th	Hermaphrodite	4:17
9	Just out	3:10
10	Adios	3:48
11	fog	4:54
12	Hallelujah (*)	3:45

(*) Hallelujah only appeared on the Japanese version (as a hidden track ).

Information on individual songs

my heart is burning

The working title for My Heart Burns was Sandman . The Sandman is a figure with positive connotations in German folk myth. He is supposed to bring the little children to sleep by throwing sand in their eyes. A story by ETA Hoffmann is also entitled , in which the sandman is a monster that pulls out the eyes of young children in order to feed them to its young.

The song describes children's nightmares with "demons, ghosts, black fairies" from the point of view of the sandman, who, according to a recurring line of text in the chorus, is "The voice from the pillow", which haunts children night after night.

Left 2 3 4

Left 2 3 4 is Rammstein's reaction to the ongoing allegations of right-wing sentiments, which the band denies. The title itself is derived from the German bar counting during the march .

Sun

This song should one day become the “battle song” of the Klitschko brothers. It only came about because there was a corresponding request to Rammstein. The result, however, was too "tough" for Klitschko's management and was not used as an anthem.

The song was covered by Heino in 2013 on his album Mit freundlichen Grüßen .

I want

The video for Ich will was filmed on August 9, 2001 on and in the former State Council building of the GDR on Berlin's Schloßplatz . About 250 extras and a helicopter were used for the shoot. The director was Joern Heitmann , who had previously made the video for the song Sonne .

Open fire!

This song also appeared on the soundtrack of the 2002 action film xXx - Triple X , in which Rammstein made a guest appearance, in the context of which they fire open! performed live. The images from the guest appearance were also made available for the video on Feuer frei! used. The video was also directed by Rob Cohen .

mother

Mother was the fourth single on the album. The text written by Till Lindemann describes the situation of a clone crying out for an identity. According to Flake Lorenz, the composition comes from lead guitarist Richard Kruspe.

Music box

This song is about a small child who, apparently dead, is mistakenly buried. It receives a music box as a grave gift. When it wakes up again, it winds it up so that a melody sounds. The sound draws attention to the child and so it is freed from its grave.

In the chorus the lines “Hoppe hoppe Reiter”, “My heart doesn't beat any longer” are sung by Khira Li Lindemann, the daughter of Richard Z. Kruspe and Till Lindemann's ex-wife.

Adios

In this song, Till Lindemann sings Bobbobschubob several times in the background , based on American rock'n'roll tracks from the 1950s and 1960s. At that time it was customary to accompany yourself and your own melody with this rhythmic staccato . The song is about a heroin addict who is administering a lethal injection (the so-called golden shot ). The first two stanzas describe the intoxicating effects of the drug. "He has closed his eyes, a battle is raging in his blood, an army is marching through his intestines, the bowels are slowly warming up". After the two stanzas the chorus and an aggressively played instrumental section follow. The third verse follows, in which the sung-about dies “He opened his eyes, but he didn't wake up”, followed by the refrain again.

fog

Nebel is another ballad. In this song all three stanzas are sung first and then the refrain four times in a row. Read backwards the title is life . The song is about two lovers. The woman tells the man that she is going to die and wants to be kissed one last time by him, which he finally does. The last words of the lyrics suggest that the story is being told in retrospect. The break between the last kiss (and the repetition of the passage) and is so long ago that the protagonist's death is expressed:

It's been so long since the last kiss.
The last Kiss.
He does not remember anymore.

Hallelujah (h)

The song can be found on two different special editions of the album. On the one hand as a hidden track on the Japanese version of the album and on the other hand on a second CD with the video for the song Sonne on an American edition by Mutter . The song was also released as the B-side of the single Links 2 3 4 , which was also released in Europe. The play is about a pedophile priest who assaults the choirboy.

Hallelujah and Hallelujah are often mistakenly equated with each other. In the version of the single links 2 3 4 - Hallelujah - clear differences can be seen. There is a dark choir in the background during the intro. Furthermore, the guitar and bass sounds have been mixed better and the background sounds are generally better rounded off.

The hidden track version can be heard in the soundtrack for the film Resident Evil .

Singles and Videos

Sun

Single release: February 12, 2001

Left 2 3 4

Single release: May 14, 2001
Video premiere: May 18, 2001

I want

Single release: September 10, 2001
Single release (UK edition): May 13th, 2002
Video premiere: August 2001

mother

Single release: March 25, 2002
Video premiere: March 25, 2002

Open fire!

Single release: October 14, 2002
Single release (UK edition): November 13th, 2002
Video premiere: September 2002

my heart is burning

Single release: December 7th, 2012
Video premiere: December 2012

Awards for music sales

Country / Region	Award	Sales
Awards for music sales (country / region, Award, Sales)
Belgium (BEA)	gold	(15,000)
Denmark (IFPI)	gold	(25,000)
Germany (BVMI)	2 × platinum	(600,000)
Europe (IFPI)	2 × platinum	2,000,000
Finland (IFPI)	gold	(15,193)
France (SNEP)	-	(28,800)
Mexico (AMPROFON)	gold	75,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	gold	(40,000)
Norway (IFPI)	gold	(15,000)
Austria (IFPI)	gold	(20,000)
Poland (ZPAV)	platinum	(100,000)
Sweden (IFPI)	gold	(40,000)
Switzerland (IFPI)	platinum	(80,000)
Spain (Promusicae)	3 × platinum	(300,000)
United Kingdom (BPI)	gold	(203,610)
All in all	9 × gold 9 × platinum	2,075,000