Ich will lieber hier liegen
I’d rather lie here – "Liegen ist Frieden" by Elen
Who hasn’t had a day where they would rather stay warm in bed than face the outside world? In “Liegen ist Frieden” (“Laying down is peace”), singer Elen reasons she is actually doing the world a favor by staying home in her bed – sparing others from her moodiness and steering clear of any potential danger she might encounter.
While the song has an overall playful tone, Elen’s list of all the world expects from us in a day is striking – get up, go out, brush our teeth, lose weight, get in line, just to name a few – and a reminder that, as humans, rest is actually a good and necessary thing.
Du musst jetzt aufstehen, rausgehen
You must now wake up, get out
Zähne putzen, eincremen, abnehmen
Brush your teeth, apply lotion, lose weight
In die Zeitung gucken, losgehen, anstehen, draufgehen
Look in the newspaper, get going, stand in line, go for it
Hörst du die Stimme, die sagt: “Nutze den Tag”
Do you hear the voice that says, “Use the day”?
Modal verbs are “helper” verbs often used in combination with another verb in the infinitive form, which describe the way or manner in which things happen.
In “Liegen ist Frieden”, we see the modal verb müssen (must) in action with a long list of infinitive verbs, detailing all the many things the outside world tells us we “must” do each day:
Du musst jetzt aufstehen, rausgehen, Zähne putzen, eincremen, abnehmen…
You must now wake up, get out, brush your teeth, apply lotion, lose weight…
Just like in English, a single conjugated form of a modal verb (“musst” in this case, conjugated for “du”) can be used in relation to multiple infinitive verbs. The implication here is that you must wake up, you must get out, you must brush your teeth… even though musst occurs only once at the beginning of the sentence.
Other common modal verbs include können (can), dürfen (may), sollen (should), and wollen (want). Each can be used in a variety of ways depending on context. For more in-depth information on modal verbs, check out this article by Lingolia.
Here are a few additional words from “Liegen ist Frieden” to add to your vocabulary list:
aufwachen – to wake up
das Bett – the bed
das Kissen – the pillow
die Stimme – the voice
aufstehen – to get up
rausgehen – to get out
Zähne putzen – to brush one’s teeth
eincremen – to apply lotion
abnehmen – to lose weight
die Zeitung – the newspaper
gucken – to look
losgehen – to get going
anstehen – to stand in line
draufgehen – to go for it
nutzen – to use
liegen – to lie down
der Frieden – the peace
das Geschenk – the gift
die Welt – the world
das Temperament – the temper
die Gefahr / die Gefahren – the danger / the dangers
der Gegensatz – the opposite