Die Ärzte were formed in 1982 by Jan Vetter (alias Farin Urlaub), Dirk Felsenheimer (alias Bela B.) and bassist Hans Runge (alias Sahnie). Bela and Farin had previously played together in the punk band Soilent Grün; after that band broke up they decided to form a band playing fun songs, in contrast to the mostly political bands of the punk scene at that time. While deriving from that punk scene, their early music was heavily influenced by pop and rock and roll, especially The Beatles, whom Farin heard a lot as a child due to his mother playing their records.
In the first two years they mostly played in clubs of their hometown of Berlin. Their first release was a contribution to the sampler "20 schäumende Stimmungshits" (roughly, "20 exuberant mood hits"), which contained a strong alcohol theme. In 1983 they won a rock contest in Berlin; with the prize money they recorded their debut EP "Uns gehts Prima" ("We're doing great"). Finally Columbia Records signed them, and they released their first LP "Debil" in 1984 and the second one ("Im Schatten der Ärzte") a year later.
After the second record they parted ways with Sahnie due to internal problems. On the third record he was replaced by producer Miccey Meuser; later Hagen Liebig, better known as The Incredible Hagen, played bass for them during live performances until their breakup.
In 1987 the German Federal Centre for Media Harmful to Young Persons put the songs Geschwisterliebe ("Sibling Love", a song about incest, from Die Ärzte), Claudia hat 'nen Schäferhund ("Claudia has a German Shepherd", about zoophilia, from "Debil") and Schlaflied ("Lullaby", about a monster coming and eating you after falling asleep, also from "Debil") on the German List of Media Harmful to Young People. This prohibited the band from performing the songs live and, more importantly, promoting the two albums, and shops from openly displaying the records in their shelves. After several trials against shops that still openly sold the records a lot of shops removed Die Ärzte completely from their stock. The result was a drop in record sales and big financial problems for the band. In response they released the compilation "Ab 18" ("Adults Only") with all their songs on the index and some other old and new tasteless songs, and the greatest hits album "Ist das alles?"("Is this everything?" but also can be translated as "Is this the end?"). The album and the new singles were fairly successful, partly because of growing media interest due to the previous censorship.
The following album "Das ist nicht die ganze Wahrheit" ("That is not the whole truth") was even more successful, climbing into the top 10 in the German album charts. They decided to go out on a high note in 1988, breaking up after doing one last tour and recording a live double album that became their first number one in the album charts.
Neither Farin's new band King Køng nor Bela's Depp Jones were really successful, so in 1993 they decided to do a reunion. As bass player they invited Rodrigo Gonzales, who was guitarist in Depp Jones and a friend of Bela. Their comeback single was Schrei nach Liebe ("Cry for Love"), their first ever political song, that they published as a statement against what was perceived as growing racism and right wing extremist violence in Germany at that time.
The album was more diverse than ever, with ballads, punk, rock and traditional German sounds. Both album and single became big hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The follow-up "Planet Punk" was also very successful.
In 1996 they wanted to make an EP just about hair, but they wrote too many songs for an EP and made the Album "Le Frisur" ("The Hairdo") instead. It was slightly less successful than its predecessors. Apart from their own tours they also supported Kiss in that year, a dream come true for Bela and Rod.
1998 was perhaps the most successful year of their career, the single "Männer sind Schweine" ("Men are Pigs") being their first Number 1 single in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and the album 13 also being Number 1 in Germany and Switzerland. After a lot of promotion and touring in that year they decided to take a break, deciding also to never play again "Männer sind Schweine" at a concert due to the too great success this song had. They did not like the upcoming unwanted and rather unoriginal remakes by other bands as e.g. "Frauen sind Schweine" ("Women are pigs") and also did not like to see their song played at mass tourist beach parties at places like Mallorca/Spain.
In 2000 they came back with another very successful album, "Runter mit den Spendierhosen, Unsichtbarer!", and two top 10 singles. As the third single from the album they released the 30-second-song "Yoko Ono", which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the shortest single ever released - another example of their sense of humour. On their tour in 2001 they sold the limited Album "5, 6, 7, 8 Bullenstaat" consisting of short punk songs that were written and recorded while recording the full length album published a year before, and some cover songs published in 1994 on a tour only EP.
After that they again took a break: Bela did some acting, Farin recorded his first solo album (Endlich Urlaub!). In late 2002 they did an MTV Unplugged in a school auditorium together with the school band. After that they made a new double album Geräusch that was released in 2003. On the next tour a Live DVD was recorded and published one year later.
On 2 November 2007, Die Ärzte released their latest album, Jazz ist anders ("Jazz is nothing like this", literally "Jazz is different").
In August 2011 the band announced that they are working on a new album which is set to be released in 2012 with a tour called "Das Ende ist noch nicht vorbei" ("The end is not over yet") following in the summer 2012.
The official homepage for Die Ärzte is www.bademeister.com
Waldspaziergang mit Folgen
Die Ärzte Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Das sah ich ein Stück Holz, das sah heilig aus
Also steckte ich es ein, nahm es mit nach Haus
Und da schnitzte ich mir einen Gott daraus
Dann hab ich meinen Gott ins Regal gestellt
Da hat er einen schönen Ausblick über die Welt
Und solange er nicht verspricht, was er später nicht hält
Wenn auch andere behaupten, dass wäre nicht normal
Ich habe einen Gott bei mir im Regal
Und schon bald darauf begann' ein paar Wunder zu geschehen
Ich wurde unglaublich reich und noch unglaublicher schön
Ich brachte Lahme zum renn und die Blinden zum sehen
Und natürlich konnte ich auch über Wasser gehen
Ich hab mir einen Gott ins Regal gestellt
Und ich hoffe dass er darin nicht Dämonen verfällt
Und solange er nicht verspricht was er später nicht hält
Er ist doch eine Bereicherung für diese Welt
Auch wenn andere behaupten ich wäre nicht normal
Ich habe einen Gott (Mein Gott ein Gott) bei mir im Regal
Jetzt hatte ich alles, Ruhm, Reichtum und Macht
Doch man weiß wie so was ausgeht hab ich mir gedacht
Und so hab ich ihn genommen irgendwann in der Nacht
Und hab ihn zurück in den Wald gebracht
Ich hab mir einen Gott ins Regal gestellt
Ich hatte vorher nicht gedacht, dass er mir so gut gefällt
Und solange er da stand war er wirklich mein Held
Ich hielt ihn für den besten Gott der Welt
Andre Leute haben Bücher, das wär' mir zu banal
Ich hatte einen Gott (Jaja ein Gott) bei mir im Regal
The song "Waldspaziergang mit Folgen" by Die Ärzte tells the story of a person who went for a walk in the woods and found a piece of wood that looked sacred. The person took the wood home and carved it into a god. The god is then placed on a shelf where it overlooks the world. The god begins to perform miracles, making the person rich, beautiful, and able to perform acts such as making the lame walk and the blind see.
The individual becomes more powerful and famous, but as time goes on, they realize the dangers of having such a powerful object in their possession. Eventually, the individual takes the god back to the forest, realizing that it was not their place to have such a deity in their possession. The song comments on the desire for power and the dangers that come with it while also critiquing faith and religion.
Line by Line Meaning
Ich ging spazieren im Wald, ich musste einfach hinaus
I took a walk in the forest, I needed to get out and breathe some fresh air.
Das sah ich ein Stück Holz, das sah heilig aus
I saw a piece of wood that looked holy to me.
Also steckte ich es ein, nahm es mit nach Haus
So I took it with me and brought it home.
Und da schnitzte ich mir einen Gott daraus
Then I carved a god out of it.
Dann hab ich meinen Gott ins Regal gestellt
Then I put my god on a shelf.
Da hat er einen schönen Ausblick über die Welt
From there, he has a nice view of the world.
Und solange er nicht verspricht, was er später nicht hält
As long as he doesn't make promises he can't keep.
Muss Ich sagen, dass mir Gott ziemlich gut gefällt
I have to say, I really like my god.
Wenn auch andere behaupten, dass wäre nicht normal
Even though others claim it's not normal.
Ich habe einen Gott bei mir im Regal
I have a god on my shelf.
Und schon bald darauf begann' ein paar Wunder zu geschehen
And soon after, some miracles began to happen.
Ich wurde unglaublich reich und noch unglaublicher schön
I became incredibly rich and even more incredibly beautiful.
Ich brachte Lahme zum renn und die Blinden zum sehen
I made the lame run and the blind see.
Und natürlich konnte ich auch über Wasser gehen
And of course, I could even walk on water.
Ich hab mir einen Gott ins Regal gestellt
I put a god on my shelf.
Und ich hoffe dass er darin nicht Dämonen verfällt
And I hope he doesn't get possessed by demons in there.
Er ist doch eine Bereicherung für diese Welt
He's a enrichment to this world.
Auch wenn andere behaupten ich wäre nicht normal
Even though others claim I'm not normal.
Ich habe einen Gott (Mein Gott ein Gott) bei mir im Regal
I have a god (my god) on my shelf.
Jetzt hatte ich alles, Ruhm, Reichtum und Macht
Now I had everything, fame, wealth, and power.
Doch man weiß wie so was ausgeht hab ich mir gedacht
But I thought about how something like that would end.
Und so hab ich ihn genommen irgendwann in der Nacht
So I took him back to the forest one night.
Und hab ihn zurück in den Wald gebracht
And brought him back to the forest.
Ich hab mir einen Gott ins Regal gestellt
I put a god on my shelf.
Ich hatte vorher nicht gedacht, dass er mir so gut gefällt
I didn't expect to like him so much.
Und solange er da stand war er wirklich mein Held
And as long as he was there, he was truly my hero.
Ich hielt ihn für den besten Gott der Welt
I thought he was the best god in the world.
Andre Leute haben Bücher, das wär' mir zu banal
Other people have books, that would be too mundane for me.
Ich hatte einen Gott (Jaja ein Gott) bei mir im Regal
I had a god (yeah, a god) on my shelf.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Farin Urlaub
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@timobold552
Ich sitze hier und gleich gehts los, ich hab den Arsch voll taco sauce
Ich sitze hier und bin am pissen, bis eben hab ich noch geschissen
Hier ich sitze auf dem Puper und kacke einen Main State Trooper
Ich sitze hier und bring mich um, gleich macht die Pistole BUMM
Ich sitze hier und spann die Backen, ich werd' einen Texaner kacken
@singsang8835
Die ärzte sind einfach genial, je öfter man das Lied hört, desto besser wird es :)
@larnregis
Farin wäre ein fantastischer Politiker: intelligent, ehrlich, medienpräsent, wortgewand, großartiges Weltbild und Allgemeinbildung
@romaaeterna1378
Er ist nicht Geldgeil genug. Das funktioniert dann einfach nicht.
@xeroxgaming8456
+Mister Cf Ja guuuut xD
@Herautos
Und er ist nicht korrupt, geldgeil, hinterlistig, feige und lässt sich auch nicht schmieren ... ne Farin ist genau richtig da wo er ist :)
@CodPlayerNo77
Als Politiker musst man leider ganz andere Qualitäten haben. Man muss korrupt und ohne Meinung sein.
@romaaeterna1378
Der Aero Nicht immer!
Frau Petry ist glaub ich nicht korrupt und hat ihre eigene Meinung!
Leider...
@TheAdrenochrome
Genau mit dieser Performance sollten wir sie zum Eurovision Song Contest schicken! Germany 12 Points!
@eckiibanez3012
Genau 👍
Dann hat es ein Ende das wir immer den letzten Platz belegen.
@lenagabrielle2309
Ja, total