Engel Lyrics in English Rammstein

Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Engel by Rammstein from German to English.
Whoever's good on Earth while alive
Will become an angel after death
You look toward heaven and then you ask
Why you can't see them
Only when the clouds go to sleep
Can we be seen in the sky
We're scared and all alone
God knows I don't want to be an angel
They live behind the sunshine
Endlessly far away from us
They've got to claw at the stars
So they don't fall from the sky
Only when the clouds go to sleep
Can we be seen in the sky
We're scared and all alone
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
Only when the clouds go to sleep
Can we be seen in the sky
We're scared and all alone
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
God knows I don't want to be an angel
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SONG MEANING

Engel invites us to look at the afterlife through Rammstein’s dark-tinted glasses. The lyrics start with a familiar promise – “If you are good in life, you will become an angel after death.” Yet the song quickly twists that comfort into something eerie. These angels hide “behind the sunshine,” cling desperately to stars and feel “afraid and alone.” Instead of celebrating heaven, the narrator keeps repeating, “God knows I don’t want to be an angel,” turning the usual dream of paradise into a nightmare of isolation.

Rammstein use this unsettling picture to ask a bigger question: Is eternal perfection really better than imperfect, vibrant life on Earth? By showing angels as lonely sky-dwellers, the band reminds us to treasure our human experience, with all its flaws and thrills, right here and now. Industrial guitars and haunting whistles reinforce that tension between the heavenly ideal and the gritty reality we actually want to keep living. In short, the song flips the concept of heavenly reward, celebrating life and free will over sterile immortality.

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