Clown
Westernhagen Lyrics

The lyrics of Westernhagen's song "Clown" are about the singer's feeling of being like a clown who is constantly an object of ridicule and the target of people's projections, serving as their "opferlamm" or sacrificial lamb onto which they can project their issues. The first verse talks about the singer's many emotions, representing a lost war, but the victory that followed was merely a "Phyrussieg" – in other words, a victory that comes with too great a cost. The second verse talks about the relationship between the singer and another person, where he gave everything he had, but the other person pledged their loyalty and didn't reciprocate it. The chorus repeats the idea that everyone needs an "opferlamm" to project their issues onto, and that the singer is just that – a clown.

The song speaks to a universal experience of feeling like an outsider and being scapegoated, but also the need to project one's problems onto someone else. The metaphor of a clown highlights the idea of someone who is constantly performing and masking their true selves in order to please others, much like how the singer feels he must put on a show and be the object of ridicule for others to feel better about themselves. The repetition of the chorus, "Ich bin ein clown" emphasizes the theme of the song - that he is just a clown, an object of projection for other people.