* In 1989, the band released the demo CD "Satanische Verse" and after another year their debut album "Die Propheten" on Bruno Kramm's own label, Danse Macabre.
Das Ich skillfully mixed electronic, symphonic and early industrial elements into an explosive cocktail unprecedented in the often cliche ridden German music culture. Das Ich established itself with a fixed position in the scene and became the very epitome of experimental and electronic music.
They are celebrated as the starting spark of a new genre of post wave, post Kraftwerk, post Neubauten era, and successfully led the way in the charts of the independent scene. Tours all over Europe strengthened the position of Das Ich, who quickly got a reputation for being "apocalyptic eccentrics", since their concerts appear to be evil and bone-jarring spectacles.
* After the release of their maxi CD "Stigma" in 1993, Das Ich went off on an extended tour through all of Europe and the U.S., and in addition played at various festivals, for example the Peter Gabriel WOMAD in Hamburg, as well as at the Documenta in Kassel.
* After that followed what up to now is their most compressed work as well as their least accessible, "Staub". Its success underpined their precedence. Released right at Christmas time, "Staub" was on the waiting list of the German Media Control Charts for 11 weeks.
It took about 2 years to create this work, in which both the innovation that characterized their debut, and modern industrial-elements (comp. "Das Ich im Ich") were amalgamated. Harsh noise-loops bedded into symphonic arrangements and combined thematically with the Holocaust of self-contempt in modern human society rendered "Staub" a milestone for electronic music of the nineties. 8 tracks, which catapulted Das Ich to international significance and which carried on the importance of the German industrial-electro-scene. With "Staub" Das Ich played a tour containing more than 60 shows whole over the world. "Staub" was also released domestically in the USA on the Californian label Tess Records, ran by William Faith of Faith and the Muse, while "Die Propheten" was re-released on Black Orchid Records from Miami.
* After the band recruited the drummer Chad Blinman on the U.S. tour, Das Ich grew into a genuine live band. In 1995 they put the live album "Feuer" out on the market to question the term "canned music", which all electronic bands have to deal with sooner or later.
* Immediately after that, a project done together with the famous metal band "Atrocity" was released. The album "Die Liebe" was a successful attention-getter for both bands and is still numbered among the first representatives of the successful metal/gothic crossover movement of the time.
Until today, many of these crossover bands refer to this album as initial innovation and influence.
* At the end of 1996 Das Ich began the early work on their new album "Egodram".
* However, the work had to be interrupted for half a year in order to compose the soundtrack album "Das Innere Ich" for the underground movie "Das Ewige Licht". After a further successful tour in the U.S. in May of 1997 with the new drummer Jakob Lang, the work on "Egodram" could finally begin again and be completed at the end of 1997. While all the previous releases appeared on the Danse Macabre label, Das Ich decided in the summer of 1997 to sign a worldwide recording contract with Edel Records for "Egodram".
* The first single "Kindgott" which was out taken from the new album was released in December 1997.
* In February 1998 the successful "Egodram" album and the second single "Destillat" with a stunning videoclip, directed by the wellknown Qfilm company, were released.
* From March to April 1998 Das Ich toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In May they played the International Wave Gothik Treffen in Leipzig.
* After touring for the first time Spain and Mexico they finished the work on their literal work in June, "Morgue" which features songs to the poems of the famous German expressionist writer "Gottfried Benn" in an extreme diversity which brought them also a fantastic feedback from cultural institutions whole over Europe. In November 98 Das Ich toured France and Germany again to present some of their new songs.
* In 1999 it was time to celebrate ten years of Das Ich with "Re_Laborat" and the big USA Totentanz Tour 99. This album was a successful hit on the dance floor. It offers various remixes from well-known bands like Deine Lakaien, Atrocity, VNV Nation, And One and many others. The smashing dance floor hit "Destillat", remixed by VNV Nation became a club hymn for the summer of 2000 worldwide. The dark romantic track "Reanimat", only available on a limited double CD was transferred to a videoclip, directed by Hans Helmut HдЯler, with whom the band worked on "Das Ewige Licht" before. "Re_Laborat" was also brought to France on XIII Bis Records domestically, while their online archives www.dasich.de found birth on the internet.
* *In 2003 "Das Ich" released a double CD box, a Best Of called "Relikt" with a 48 page booklet. They also toured again the USA and Russia for the first time with a tremendous effort and success.
*In the middle of the burning summer 2004, Das Ich released their breathtaking new album, called Lava which focuses on emotional issues. For the first time in the bands outspanning history, love, hate, greed and other human feelings struggle against the ratio, the understanding of the human being. It is the fight of the Freudian "Es" (it) against the moral "Ich" (Ego)
* In 2006 Das Ich released Cabaret, a gothic album based on theatrics.
* In 2008 Das Ich released the EP Kannibale, which they call their harshest and most brutal endeavour yet.
Sehnsucht
Das Ich Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Schreit ratlos in die schwarze Nacht
Wie Eis bricht mir das Herz entzwei
Speit blutend tote Sehnsucht aus
Wie Gold erstarrt mein Seelentier
Reißt sterbend faule Kehlen auf
Wie Glut brennt mir der Lebenssaft
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Ich will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Wie Hass zerspringt mir das Gehirn
Kotzt faulend weißen Eiter aus
Wie Wut erblindet mir das Licht
Tränt elend wunden Zeiten nach
Wo Kot verfault mein Inneres ich
Lacht kindisch aus die Ewigkeit
Wie tot erstarrt ist mein Gefühl
Fleht nicht einmal um Menschlichkeit
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Ich will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Ich will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Sehnsucht
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
Ich will dass du mein Leben
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
The lyrics to Das Ich's song Sehnsucht describe the intensity and agony of longing for someone so deeply that they are essential to one's life and even death. The first verse begins with a metaphorical comparison of the singer's life force to falling leaves, screaming in the black night, and a heart breaking apart like ice. The second verse continues with descriptions of a soul like gold solidifying and tearing open decaying throats, the lifeblood burning like fire through the veins. The refrain of "Sehnsucht" emphasizes the overwhelming feeling of longing, which is repeated throughout the song.
The third verse shifts to more negative emotions, with the mind shattering like glass and spewing out putrid pus, and anger blinding the light and lamenting past hardships. The bridge then jumps to a grotesque image of the singer's inner self being reduced to rotting excrement while being mocked by eternity. The final repetition of the chorus emphasizes the singer's utter dependency on the beloved, stating "I cannot live without you, I cannot die without you, I want you to fulfill my life and death."
Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of a person consumed by their yearning for someone else, to the point where they feel like they cannot exist without them. The intense emotions are portrayed with vivid and often grotesque imagery.
Line by Line Meaning
Wie Laub zerfällt mein Lebensgeist
My life-force disintegrates like leaves
Schreit ratlos in die schwarze Nacht
Crying out cluelessly into the black night
Wie Eis bricht mir das Herz entzwei
My heart breaks into two like ice
Speit blutend tote Sehnsucht aus
Vomiting dead yearnings that bleed
Wie Gold erstarrt mein Seelentier
My soul animal stiffens like gold
Reißt sterbend faule Kehlen auf
It tears open rotting throats while dying
Wie Glut brennt mir der Lebenssaft
My life blood burns like embers
Fließt wütend durch die Venen mir
It flows fiercely through my veins
Sehnsucht
Longing
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Will dass du mein Leben
I want you to be my life
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
And fulfill my death
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Wie Hass zerspringt mir das Gehirn
My brain bursts like hate
Kotzt faulend weißen Eiter aus
Vomiting decaying white pus
Wie Wut erblindet mir das Licht
My light is blinded like rage
Tränt elend wunden Zeiten nach
Crying for miserable wounded times
Wo Kot verfault mein Inneres ich
Where my inner self rots like feces
Lacht kindisch aus die Ewigkeit
Eternity mocks childishly
Wie tot erstarrt ist mein Gefühl
My feeling is frozen like death
Fleht nicht einmal um Menschlichkeit
Without even pleading for humanity
Sehnsucht
Longing
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Will dass du mein Leben
I want you to be my life
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
And fulfill my death
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Will dass du mein Leben
I want you to be my life
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
And fulfill my death
Sehnsucht
Longing
Kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Will dass du mein Leben
I want you to be my life
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
And fulfill my death
Ich kann ohne dich nicht leben
I cannot live without you
Ich kann ohne dich nicht sterben
I cannot die without you
Will dass du mein Leben
I want you to be my life
Und meinen Tod erfüllst
And fulfill my death
Contributed by Noah M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.