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Dalai Lama is a song by the band Rammstein, released in 2004 on the album Reise, Reise. Sung entirely in German, it is an adaptation of der Erlkönig, a poem written by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) in 1782 and subsequently set to music by Franz Peter Schubert (1797-1828) in 1816. The band apparently considered calling the song "Erlkönig" in homage to Goethe's poem. "Flugangst" ("fear of flying", or more loosely "flight fright") was also considered as a name before Rammstein settled on "Dalai Lama" in reference to the current Dalai Lama's well-publicised dislike of air travel. Other than this somewhat oblique reference, the song does not have anything to do with Tibetan Buddhism or the Dalai Lama. Jump to: navigation, search Image File history File links Musicalnotes. ... Jump to: navigation, search Rammstein is a German band formed in 1993. ... Jump to: navigation, search 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search Reise, Reise, Rammsteins fourth studio album, was released on 27 September 2004 in Germany, followed shortly by its release in the rest of Europe. ... Der Erlkönig (often called just Erlkönig) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... Jump to: navigation, search Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe â–¶(?) (IPA: ) (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German novelist, dramatist, poet, humanist, scientist, philosopher, and for ten years chief minister of state at Weimar. ... Events While in debtors prison, John Cleland writes Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1832 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1782 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... For the crater on the moon, see Schubert (crater) Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (January 31, 1797 – November 19, 1828), was an Austrian composer. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1797 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1828 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 1816 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Der Erlkönig (often called just Erlkönig) is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... Jump to: navigation, search The 14th and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (born 1935) The 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso (1876-1933) In Tibetan Buddhism, the successive Dalai Lamas (taa-lai bla-ma) form a tulku lineage of Gelugpa leaders which trace back to 1391. ... Tibetan Buddhism - formerly (and incorrectly) also called Lamaism, after their religious gurus known as lamas - is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and the Himalayan region. ...

The song updates the storyline of Erlkönig, replacing the poem's travelling man and child on horseback with a man and child on an aircraft, and replacing the Erlkönig himself with the "king of all the winds". As in the poem, the travellers are menaced by a mysterious spirit which "invites" the child to join him (though only the child can hear the spirit's invitation). Rammstein's version differs markedly from Goethe's original in describing the fate of the child. In the poem, the child cries out that the Erlkönig is abducting it. The alarmed father rides for help, holding the child in his arms, only to find that his son is dead:

Dem Vater grausets, er reitet geschwind, Er hält in Armen das ächzende Kind, Erreicht den Hof mit Mühe und Not; In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.

The father shudders, he rides swiftly, He holds in (his) arms the moaning child. He reaches the farmhouse with effort and urgency. In his arms the child was dead.

Rammstein replaces this with a typically morbid twist: after running into a storm sent by the "king of all the winds" which threatens all the passengers, the terrified father suffocates the child by holding him too tightly and the child's soul joins its "brothers" in the winds:

Der Vater hält das Kind jetzt fest Hat es sehr an sich gepresst Bemerkt nicht dessen Atemnot Doch die Angst kennt kein Erbarmen So der Vater mit den Armen Drückt die Seele aus dem Kind Diese setzt sich auf dem Wind

The father is now holding onto the child and has pressed it tightly against himself He doesn't notice its difficulty in breathing But fear knows no mercy So the father, with his arms, Squeezes the soul from the child Which sits itself on the wind