Goethes Erben (Goethe's inheritors) is a musical group from Germany started… Read Full Bio ↴Goethes Erben (Goethe's inheritors) is a musical group from Germany started in 1989 by Oswald Henke and Peter Seipt. The basic idea was to put spoken german words into the center of a music-theatre. After the releases of two demo-tapes and their debut-concert, Peter Seipt leaves the band in July 1990 to go his own musical way with The Seer. Oswald Henke is only working in his studio after that.

In February 1991 Goethes Erben is formed as a group again. Mindy Kumbalek (keyboards, drums and saxophone) and Conny R. (guitars) make the trio perfect.

In this stocking they record their debut-album "Das Sterben ist ästhetisch bunt" ('Dying is aesthetically colorful') which makes the start of a triology and is published in February 1992 on the Hamburger Label DARK STAR. On this label the following albums are also published.

Short time before the release of the second album "Der Traum an die Erinnerung" ('The dream of the rememberance'), Conny R. leaves the band of her free will. Their Germany-tour in August 1992 makes the group popular in the country. Mindy Kumbalek and Oswald Henke are supported through Peter Seipt as a part-time-musician.

Until now their musical ways have changed a lot, their popularity increased, as well. They gave several concerts and tours, have had nearly 20 albums and 3 DVDs produced (not every single one was published).

Their musical genre is not easy to describe. However, they are officially classified in the "Neue Deutsche Todeskunst" ('New german art of death') genre.

Absurd
Goethes Erben Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Quersymmetrisch gleicht das weiße Rauschen
Einem dichten Schneegestöber,
Dessen grauweiße Flocken
Das Hässliche bedecken
Und verändern.
Gemeinsam brechen grau und weiß einstmals lienale Linien
Biegen Kurven kurvenreich zu sanften Zackenmustern.
Die Explosion der schwarzen Tinte

Lässt fingerreiche Vielhände
In den grauschwarzweißenn Farbraum greifen
Nagellos und makellos zerkratzt das Fenster
Weder blutig grün noch geifernd rot
Ein wunderbares Durcheinander

Völlig farblos warten wir

Auf leuchtend bunte Wolken
Süßen Wind und

Overall Meaning

klirrende Kälte
Die uns ins Reich der Schönheit entführen.

The lyrics of Goethes Erben's song "Absurd" depict a vivid and surrealistic imagery that is open to interpretation. The opening verse describes a sound, the "white noise," that is seen as a symmetrical pattern of snowflakes covering the ugly and changing it. The verse refers to the transformation that can happen when something beautiful and pure, like snow, covers the ugliness, and changes the perception towards it. The lyrics continue to describe a world where lines and curves, grey and white, are intersecting and creating beautiful patterns, hiding the ugliness. The image of black ink exploding and becoming a playground for fingers is a metaphor for the freedom of creativity that can come when we embrace the absurdity of our world.

The second verse is an expression of longing for beauty, color, and magic. The singer and the listener are waiting for the beauty to come and take them into a world of wonder, a place where they can escape the mundane and enter into the realm of the absurd. The lyrics suggest that the absurdity of our world is what makes it beautiful, and that by embracing it, we can find the magic that we seek. The ending is a beautiful contradiction as it describes a world where all the colors have disappeared, and yet, the singer is still hoping for a world full of color.

Line by Line Meaning

Quersymmetrisch gleicht das weiße Rauschen
The static noise is symmetric in a particular way.

Einem dichten Schneegestöber,
It is similar to a dense snowstorm.

Dessen grauweiße Flocken
The grayish-white snowflakes

Das Hässliche bedecken
mask the ugliness.

Und verändern.
and transform it.

Gemeinsam brechen grau und weiß einstmals lienale Linien
Gray and white together break the formerly linear lines

Biegen Kurven kurvenreich zu sanften Zackenmustern.
curving curves into gentle zigzag patterns.

Die Explosion der schwarzen Tinte
The explosion of black ink

Lässt fingerreiche Vielhände
causes multitudinous hands of fingers

In den grauschwarzweißenn Farbraum greifen
to reach into the gray-black-white color space.

Nagellos und makellos zerkratzt das Fenster
The window is scratched without nails or flaws