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
two of us
Laibach Lyrics
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Spending someone's hard earned day.
You and me Sunday driving,
Not arriving on our way home.
Here on our way home,
Here on our way home,
We're going home.
Writing letters on my wall.
You and me burning matches,
Lighting latches on our way back home.
Here on our way home,
Here on our way home,
We're going home.
You and I have memories
Longer than the road,
That stretchers out a head.
Two of us wearing raincoats,
Standing solo in the sun.
You and me closing paper,
Getting nowhere on our way back home.
Here on our way home,
Here on our way home.
We're going home.
The lyrics to Laibach's "Two Of Us" describe a journey. Two people are riding "nowhere" and spending "someone's hard earned day." They are taking their time, driving slowly on a Sunday, enjoying the moment but not necessarily in a rush to get home. The phrase "not arriving on our way home" suggests that they are aware of their leisurely pace and are not too concerned about it.
As they continue their journey, they are sending postcards and writing letters to each other, building memories that will last longer than the road stretches out ahead of them. They are burning matches and lighting latches, which metaphorically can be interpreted as sparking their relationship or igniting passion between them.
The two of them are also wearing raincoats, standing solo in the sun, and closing paper, getting nowhere on their way back home. These lines suggest that even though they are together, they are also independent and capable of standing on their own. However, they are still connected and moving toward their shared destination - home.
Line by Line Meaning
Two of us riding nowhere,
The two of us are aimlessly wandering without any particular destination in mind.
Spending someone's hard earned day.
We are not doing anything productive and are wasting someone's hard-earned time/money.
You and me Sunday driving,
We are casually driving on a Sunday, without any particular destination.
Not arriving on our way home.
We are not reaching our destination while returning home.
Here on our way home,
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
Here on our way home,
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
We're going home.
Our ultimate destination is our home.
Two of us sending postcards,
Both of us are sending postcards to someone from an unknown place.
Writing letters on my wall.
We are writing letters or messages on the wall, without any intention of actually sending them.
You and me burning matches,
We are burning matches just for fun, without any particular purpose.
Lighting latches on our way back home.
We are playing with the latches while we are returning home, without caring about the time.
Here on our way home,
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
Here on our way home,
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
We're going home.
Our ultimate destination is our home.
You and I have memories
We have shared memories between the two of us,
Longer than the road,
That go beyond what any road can offer or take us to.
That stretchers out a head.
Our memories are always ahead of us and are waiting to be made.
Two of us wearing raincoats,
We are wearing raincoats, despite the sun shining.
Standing solo in the sun.
We are both standing alone in the sun, without talking or interacting with each other.
You and me closing paper,
We are aimlessly and frivolously folding and closing paper.
Getting nowhere on our way back home.
We are not progressing towards our destination while returning home.
Here on our way home,
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
Here on our way home.
In our journey back home from an unplanned trip,
We're going home.
Our ultimate destination is our home.
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHN LENNON, PAUL MCCARTNEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind