Faith No More Angel Dust

Das Schützenfest by Faith No More: Great B-Sides

Faith No More have covered a lot of ground over their career – in particular, 1995’s King for a Day… Fool for a Lifetime utilises a different genre for every track. Mike Patton is one of the most talented vocalists in rock music, with a range of six octaves. Impressively, he’s able to make even this throwaway polka in pidgin German engaging.

The polka isn’t common in Western pop music – “Weird” Al Yankovic is a famous exponent, and They Might Be Giants dabble with the accordion. ‘Das Schützenfest’ translates as The Shooting Fest, and this charming vignette unfolds at a shooting competition. In reportedly hideous German, Patton describes his lover’s armpit as smelling like a summer morning.

Angel Dust brings back happy memories of Clinton’s inauguration year. Make your own https://billclintonswag.com/

Such ruminations aren’t unusual for Patton – when asked about his lyrics, he once said: “They come from my head, my ass, my toilet, my pillow, places like that.”

‘Das Schützenfest’ was featured on the EP Songs to Make Love To, led by Faith No More’s faithful cover of the Commodores’ ‘Easy’. It was later to added the deluxe version of Angel Dust. It’s clearly not a major song in the Faith No More catalogue, but it’s an amusing dabble into exotic territory.

Das Schützenfest

Lyrics in English and German

We then met
Wir trafen dann

For the open marksman festival
Zum offen Schützenfest

It looks to me
Für mich sieht sie aus

Like Heino’s sister
Wie Heinos Schwester

Black is the hazelnut,
Schwarzbraun ist die Haselnuß,

Her hair was tanned
Schwarzgebräunt ist war ihr Haar

Oh my Bavarian girl, just go there
Oh mein Bayerisches Mädchen, tage bloss hin

Knowing, lie down too
Hervor weissen, leg dich auch hin

We don’t shit with that
Wir scheißen eben nicht mit dem

The rifle festival, never seen again
Das Schützenfest, niemals mehr gesehen

We make love
Wir machen Liebe

In the pig trough
Im Schweinetrog

My pants burst
Meine Hosen platzen

On my doodle tail
Auf mein Dudelschwanz

You thought I was a dandy and
Sie dachte ich war ein Dandy und

Her calves were like pork knuckles
Ihre wade waren wie Eisbein

Oh girl, just go there
Oh Mädchen, tage bloss hin

Knowing, lie down too
Hervor weissen, leg dich auch hin

We don’t shit with that
Wir scheißen eben nicht mit dem

The rifle festival, never seen again
Das Schützenfest, niemals mehr gesehen

Oh doorbell yes yes dog dog away
Oh Klingel ja ja hund hund weg

Dog gone, asshole dog gone
Hund weg, arschloch hund weg

It made my heart a white sausage
Sie machte aus meinem Herz, eine weisse Wurst

She dances ute-ut and Schuhplattler
Sie tanzt ute-ut und Schuheplattler

Armpit was fresh and smelled like
Achselhöhle war frisch und duften wie

Summer morning, summer morning
Sommermorgen, Sommermorgen

Great
Super

Oh girl, hurt me
Oh Mädchen, tat mir ans

Superlochwel her bra
Superlochwel ihren BH

Weekend, but shit not with that
Wochenende, Scheiße aber nicht mit der

The Schützenfest never seen again
Das Schützenfest niemals mehr gesehen

Never seen it again
Niemals mehr gesehen

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9 Comments

  1. If someone would have told me I would listen to a polka 3 times in a row…I would have said they were crazy. It IS engaging. It is an interesting concept to make an album also.

      • It’s not everyday you hear a polka that you want to take a second/third listen to. It is interesting…lead Tuba
        I wouldn’t take it as far as polka….but I would like to hear someone make an album by decades….a fifties track, a sixties track…
        Maybe there is one already I don’t know.

          • Not that I remember but I will check it out. It sounds familiar but I will look up some tracks. Did you feature him before?

          • I haven’t really posted about him for a long time, I don’t think? His best stuff is really early in the 21st century. I like Comeback (Light Therapy) – it sounds like it’s about a girl, but it’s actually about the sun.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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