Laibach are best known for their cover versions of pop songs which have been rerendered in such a way as to reveal formerly hidden or unnoticed messages, often commenting on political totalitarianism or rock stardom’s own forms of dictatorship. This was done most successfully on Opus Dei, especially on their cover of One Vision. Named Geburt Einer Nation after D. W. Griffith’s classic film The Birth of a Nation, Queen’s lyrics are sung in German to a strident military beat. All of a sudden lines like “one flesh, one blood, one true religion” start sounding suspiciously familiar...
However the bulk of Laibach’s output is their own work. Their own early experiments with totalitarian ambiguity led to their being outlawed in then-Communist Yugoslavia; their name was made illegal so the band resorted to using their black-cross emblem on posters instead. To this day their work deals with similar ideas but frequently Laibach reference their own legendary status and tongue-in-cheekily play with the kinds of in-jokes a band accrues in over 25 years of work.
Laibach’s musical style has varied a lot over the years. They began as avant-garde industrial musicians, producing what could best be described as ambient noise but soon discovered the joys of the martial rhythm. Having produced a couple of albums of heavy martial industrial music, they began to expand sonically. Following the collapse of Yugoslavia their difficult but rewarding album Kapital included hip-hop influences among many others and NATO borrowed from techno while keeping the bombastic atmosphere. The next offering Jesus Christ Superstars came after quite a hiatus and it may have shocked a lot of people with its balls-out metal guitar riffs. The 2003 album WAT returns to a more electronic sound; working with techno producer umek has produced a slightly odd album of electro beats.
Volk was released on October 20, 2006, preceded by the single Anglia. The album contains 14 songs composed and produced together with Silence, inspired by national anthems.
2008 Laibach released new album, titled Kunst der Fuge. This album is the laibachian interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach's work The Art of Fugue (Die Kunst der Fuge). The majority of the material has been created already in 2006 and premierly performed the same year on June the 1st at Bachfest festival in Leipzig.
VOLKSWAGNER is the title of a musical project which was realized in collaboration between Laibach and the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra (2009). Laibach also cooperated with the composer and conductor Izidor Leitinger on this project, and it was decided that together they would compose a work which will in a specific manner interpret some of Wagner's better known musical motifs and combine them into a unified symphonic electronic suite.
From a formal point of view, the collaborating artists have decided to seek in Wagner the rudiments of modernism, which first through Mahler, Bruckner, and Debussy, and subsequently through Schöenberg, Berg, and Webern, developed into the core of the jazz music of the sonic experimentalists, such as Miles Davis and Sun Ra, and to upgrade them with the ambient electronic spectrum that has been developing over the last three decades. In addition, the suite will address the history of the 20th century – modernism crossbred with pop art.
4.4. 2012 a movie titeled Iron Sky was released. Laibach in collaboration with Ben Watkins as a co-writer and producer of the score provided soundtrack for Moon Nazi Invasion in Iron Sky.
Official Laibach website: www.laibach.org
Opus Dei
Laibach Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We all give the best
Every minute in the hour
We don't think about the rest
And we all get the power
We all get the best
When everyone gives everything
Life is life!
Life is life
When we all feel the power
Life is life
When we all feel the pain
Life is life
It's the feeling of the people
Life is life
It is the feeling of the land.
When we all give the power
We all give the best
Every minute in the hour
We don't think about the rest
And everyone gives everything
And every soul everyone will feel
Life is life!
And we're all glad it's over
We thought it would last
Every minute of the future
Is a memory of the past
Coz' we gave all the power
We gave all the best
And everyone lost everything
And perished with the rest.
Life is life!
It is important to note that these are not the original lyrics to the song "Life is Life." The original song was written and performed by the band Opus in 1985, and then subsequently covered by Laibach in their 1987 album Opus Dei. However, Laibach's cover takes on a different meaning, and their interpretation of the lyrics is what will be discussed below.
Laibach's version of "Life is Life" seems to be a commentary on the dangers of blindly following a political regime or ideology. The lyrics start off with a call to give all of our power and best efforts to a collective cause, similar to the way many people sacrifice their individuality for the supposed greater good of a political movement. The repetition of the phrase "life is life" seems to suggest that the struggle and hardship that may come with such dedication is simply part of the human experience. However, as the song progresses, the lyrics take a darker turn. The phrase "And everyone lost everything / And perished with the rest" hints at the disastrous consequences that can come from blindly following an ideology, and implies that many may end up losing everything they hold dear, including their lives.
Overall, Laibach's interpretation of "Life is Life" is a bleak reminder of the dangers of conformism and surrendering oneself to a collective cause. Though the lyrics start off with a hopeful message of togetherness and shared power, they become increasingly ominous as the song goes on.
Line by Line Meaning
When we all give the power
Life is better when we all contribute equally
We all give the best
We all put our best effort forward
Every minute in the hour
This effort is constant and ongoing
We don't think about the rest
We don't worry about anyone taking advantage of our efforts
And we all get the power
We all benefit equally from our shared efforts
We all get the best
We all enjoy the fruits of our labor and contributions
When everyone gives everything
When we all give all that we have to offer
Then everyone everything will get
We will all benefit and prosper
Life is life!
This is what life is all about
When we all feel the power
When we all feel pride in our shared contributions
When we all feel the pain
When we all share the struggles and difficulties
It's the feeling of the people
This is the essence of our collective experience
It is the feeling of the land.
This is the spirit and soul of our home
And everyone gives everything
When we all give everything we have to give
And every soul everyone will feel
Everyone will benefit from our shared sacrifice and effort
And we're all glad it's over
When the struggle is behind us, we can all be happy with what we accomplished
We thought it would last
We may have anticipated a longer or more challenging struggle
Every minute of the future
Every moment yet to come
Is a memory of the past
Will one day be a part of our shared history
Coz' we gave all the power
Because we all contributed and collaborated equally
We gave all the best
We gave all of our strongest efforts and contributions
And everyone lost everything
When we all shared equally, we all faced equal loss
And perished with the rest.
We all suffered and faced the same fate
Life is life!
Yet the essence of life endures and continues
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: SOEREN CHRISTENSEN, PER JOERGENSEN, ALLAN VILLADSEN, STEFFEN WESTMARK
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Mémoire de Mes Pères
MORE MAJORUM!
Quand nous donnons tous le pouvoir
Nous donnons tous le meilleur
Chaque minute dans l'heure
On ne pense pas au reste
Et nous avons tous le pouvoir
Nous obtenons tous le meilleur
Quand tout le monde donne tout
Ensuite, tout le monde sera
C'est la vie!
C'est la vie
Quand nous ressentons tous le pouvoir
C'est la vie
Quand nous ressentons tous la douleur
C'est la vie
C'est le sentiment des gens
C'est la vie
C'est le sentiment de la terre.
Quand nous donnons tous le pouvoir
Nous donnons tous le meilleur
Chaque minute dans l'heure
On ne pense pas au reste
Et tout le monde donne tout
Et chaque âme que tout le monde ressentira
C'est la vie!
Et nous sommes tous heureux que ce soit fini
Nous pensions que ça durerait
Chaque minute du futur
Est un souvenir du passé
Parce que nous avons donné tout le pouvoir
Nous avons donné le meilleur
Et tout le monde a tout perdu
Et a péri avec les autres.
C'est la vie!
"leben heißt leben"!...croyez-moi!...... 🏴☠️🤞
man33m
I was born and raised in Yugoslavia and its still unbelievable to me that something like Laibach ever existed. I remember when they showed up for the first time it was like an earthquake, like a hurricane, leaving all of yugoslav music, art and entertainment scene speechless and shocked
Tim Morder
Gotta say that Yugoslav rock from the 80s is full of really nice stuff
Sinisa Beric
I remember. Fortunately, Yugslavia was not like Russia, never. They were shot at by propaganda, never by firearms.
El Hermenéutico
We've got to take into the picture that they hail from Slovenia. This country has always been somewhat different among the others.
Lonus Bjonus
its not nearly the same but check out danish Kliché bravo charlie radio, they have some of that vibe too i think
In Crudo
This is not quite true, there were some such bands, but they did not make a career, such as Otroci Socializma.
BWPT
I played this at my dads funeral after the service. I remember the day he came home with the 12" after hearing it on John Peel's radio show and he would play it full blast, my mum hated it, I loved it!
MultiMikey81
That's amazing god bless him
Brian Bower
I can imagine this now and I can see why it is a great memory.
SparkleSparkleSparkle
@Brian Bower its a nice thought yeah