Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen...

15th Sep 2022

Und der Haifisch, der hat Tränen...

"Haifisch" (German: "Shark") is the third single from the 2009 album Liebe ist für alle da. Right before announcing the video premier, the info letter from Rammstein's website left this quote regarding the song: "the shark not only has teeth – he’s got tears as well. But since it lives in the briny deep, no one sees them. A shame. After all, this cartilaginous fish is one of the oldest of the world’s many misunderstood creatures. A bit more sympathy couldn’t hurt!" 

The chorus to the song is an allusion to the lyrics to Mack the Knife, a song written by Berthold Brecht for his play the Threepenny Opera. Haifisch reached 33 in the German charts, but fell off the very next week. 

The music video for this single was released on 23 April 2010 on the band's MySpace page. The video features the band at lead singer Till Lindemann's funeral along with some other mourners, one of whom is Marilyn Manson. A fight breaks out between two women who have had Till's children. Meanwhile, the rest of the band contemplate on who should replace Till as the singer (Henry Rollins and James Hetfield are shown as suggestions, with Hetfield presumably being picked, as his picture was shown more than once, as well as being pointed to by one of the band members). As the video continues, Till is lowered into his grave inscribed "endlich allein" (German: "finally alone") and many scenarios are shown of how Till died, which are all based on previous Rammstein videos: being beaten and set on fire by Schneider (Du hast), having his tether cut while rock climbing by Richard (Ohne dich), having his oxygen pipe removed from his space suit by Ollie while on the moon (Amerika), and a fat Till being suffocated with spaghetti force-fed to him by Flake (An homage to the movie Se7en and also Keine Lust). Lorenz also imagines Paul being spanked by Till in a Snow White costume (Sonne). There is a reference the Ich Will video as Paul opens the French doors to confront Richard. Later in the video the band begins to fight amongst themselves and Flake finds himself falling into the grave and breaking Till's coffin open, revealing that there is no body inside. Till, having grown a mustache, is then shown alive and well in Oahu, Hawaii, where he sends a postcard to the band that reads "Viele Grüße vom Arsch der Welt" (German: "Greetings from the ass of the world") and shows that he has caught a Tiger Shark on what appears to be 14 February 2010.