Released September 6, 2004 Length 3:46 | Format 7"
CD
DVD Label Motor (Part of UMG) | |
Recorded Nectar Studios-Mexico City
El Cortijo Studio-Málaga, 2003 Writer(s) Richard Z. Kruspe, Paul Landers, Till Lindemann, Christian Lorenz, Oliver Riedel, Christoph Schneider | ||
"Amerika" is a song performed by German band Rammstein. It was released in September 2004 as the second single from their album Reise, Reise.
Contents
Content
The song deals with the worldwide influence of the culture of the United States of America. The two verses are sung in German with a chorus in Denglisch: We're all living in Amerika, Amerika ist wunderbar, We're all living in Amerika, Amerika, Amerika and We're all living in Amerika, Coca-Cola, sometimes war. The band views it as a satirical commentary on Americanization, and the lyrics refer to such things considered American as Coca-Cola, Santa Claus, Wonderbra and Mickey Mouse. Uncharacteristically for Rammstein, the song incorporates an interlude in which the lyrics explicitly state the band's intentions: This is not a love song, This is not a love song, I don't sing my mother tongue, No this is not a love song.
Video
The video shows the band in Apollo-era space suits on the Moon, with shots of other cultures acting like stereotypical Americans and some using American-owned products such as cigarettes, with the assertion that American culture is everywhere. The high-tech Apollo scenes are intercut with African, and Australian Aborigine tribal footage as a stark cultural contrast. The end of the video shows that the band have actually been in a fake Moon set in a studio, complete with film crew, an allusion to Apollo moon landing hoax accusations. Till Lindemann, Rammstein's lead singer, wears a space suit with the name "Armstrong" on it, a reference to Neil Armstrong. The video ends with a band photograph left behind on the moon's surface while the recording of Jack Swigert's quote "Houston, we've had a problem here" is being played. In something of an inside joke, the video concludes with a close up of band member Richard Z. Kruspe, who winks at the camera as he was, at the time, actually "living in America."
Live performance
As with every song from Reise, Reise (except "Ohne Dich"), "Amerika" debuted live in three consecutive concerts for members of the Rammstein fan club. During the live performances of this song on tour, Flake is often seen riding around on a Segway PT with confetti cannons firing red, white and blue confetti in a parody of a ticker-tape parade. It was the last song of the band's main set, and was played at every concert of the Reise, Reise tour. During a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden on July 30, 2005, frontman Till Lindemann suffered a knee injury when keyboardist Flake accidentally ran into him with the Segway PT; this caused concerts scheduled in Asia to be cancelled.