Das Boat

Lyrics

Das Boat
U-Boat (1)

 

Ee-ee, ee-ee  

 

Notes

1. One of the Fall's weird-out tracks, this one is part mesmerizing psych-out and part kitsch. The title is a hybrid of German and English that, when put together, means "The Boat." In full German, this (Das Boot) is the title of a 1973 German novel by Lothar-Günther Bucheim and its 1981 film adaptation, written and directed by Wolfgang Peterson. A U-Boat is a submarine (German Unterseeboot, literally "under-sea boat"). 

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More Information

Das Boat: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 2007

Comments (9)

dannyno
  • 1. dannyno | 02/03/2017
Specifically, "U-Boat" is an abbreviation of "Unterseeboot", German for, literally, "Undersea Boat". Wikipedia notes that while in Germany "U-Boat" means submarines generally, for British English speakers it would represent specificallly German military submarines. In English it's uncommon to refer to, say, British or American submarines as "U-Boats".
bzfgt
  • 2. bzfgt (link) | 03/03/2017
I am flabbergasted--I cannot believe I have let this stand for four years without specifying "Unterseeboot!"
Geuz
  • 3. Geuz (link) | 08/04/2020
Since this song is at the album Reformation! Post TLC, is it to far fetched to assume that the submarine refers to Martin Luther, who officially started the Reformation?
bzfgt
  • 4. bzfgt (link) | 10/04/2020
Far fetched, I don't know...why would it refer to Luther? What is the connection? I mean, yes it's on Reformation, but so are other songs? Why don't they refer to Luther? Or do they? I'm not sure what your claim is
joincey
  • 5. joincey | 20/07/2020
Now I know Gunther the rabbit wasn't named after the actor Gunther Kaufman, but *could* he be named after Lothar-Günther Bucheim ? Ha ! I think it is so.
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 06/09/2020
Unlikely, I think.

See http://annotatedfall.doomby.com/pages/the-annotated-lyrics/latchkey-kid.html for more on Gunther.
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 08/11/2020
Eleni was interviewed by Sonja Delibasic of the The Mighty Fall facebook page, using suggestions by other TMF members. Answers posted 7 November 2020.

(Note, Gunther is a toy rabbit owned by Eleni)


Q. How did you go about making such a masterpiece as Das Boat? It's deadly!

A. We were in Gracie Fields studio and used Henry, which is one of Gunther's friends, as an inspiration. Henry had an in-built sound voice (the song of the American red-winged black bird) sounding like: EE EE!

We made a new soundtrack to the (not that bad) movie Das Boot and not because being in the studio is a bit like being underwater.


Here is the sound of the red-winged blackbird:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-winged_Blackbird/sounds

The toy might have been something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Republic-Red-Winged-Blackbird-Authentic/dp/B01N5YFG55

(there's a video there where you can hear the sound of the toy)
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt (link) | 19/12/2020
The "ee-ee, ee-ee" is kind of the cadence of the scat part of "Father Cannot Yell"
Mark Oliver
  • 9. Mark Oliver | 22/09/2023
Yet another Fall song I'm unfamiliar with, so my knowledge of it rests entirely on the lyrics, as given here...these appear so minimal that, for some reason, they remind me of a gag in the 'Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in' magazine, a spin-off from the TV show. Various regular characters are having their dreams psychoanalysed; most of these dreams are lengthy, complicated, surreal scenarios. When it gets to Goldie Hawn, as the ditsy scatterbrain she played in the show, her entire dream consists of:- ''I saw a bird. It went 'tweet'''.

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