"Zehn kleine Jägermeister" (German: ''Ten Little Huntsmen/

Jägermeister ( , ; stylized Jägermeiſter) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation ...

s'') is a song by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

punk rock group

Die Toten Hosen Die Toten Hosen (literally "The Dead Trousers", figuratively "The Deadbeats") is a German punk rock band from Düsseldorf. History The current members of Die Toten Hosen are Campino (Andreas Frege), Kuddel (Andreas von Holst), Vom (Stephe ...

. It was released in June 1996 as the fourth single from the album '' Opium fürs Volk''. It is the band's biggest hit, reaching number one on German, Austrian and Swiss charts.

Content

It's a drinking song, and the fact that drinking songs are a tradition for Die Toten Hosen is ironized on the album version as an interview in the beginning and end of the song. The song's title and theme are a parody of " Zehn kleine Negerlein" (''Ten little negroes''), which is a song about how out of ten characters only one was left in the end; the parody lies in the improbable manner of their removals: killed by smoking cannabis, died for an inheritance, killed in a road accident, killed by the husband of a date, imprisoned for avoiding taxes, killed by a policeman, killed in a military drinking game, killed by mad cow disease, and finally rejected for asylum. The chorus also makes use of the German translation of the

Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno ''Unus pro omnibus, omnes pro uno'' is a Latin phrase that means ''One for all, all for one''. It is the unofficial motto of Switzerland. The phrase describes the relation in monotheistic faiths. God is one5 Moses 6:4 He is the God of all manki ...

: "Einer für alle, alle für einen", as well as alluding to the board game

Mensch ärgere dich nicht Mensch ärgere Dich nicht (English: ''Man, Don't Get Angry'') is a German board game (but not a German-style board game), developed by Josef Friedrich Schmidt in 1907/1908. Some 70 million copies have been sold since its introduction in 1914 an ...

Music video

The music video was directed by Ralf Schmerberg and drawn by

Andreas Hykade Andreas Hykade (born 1968 in Altötting, Bavaria) is a German animator, cartoonist, and voice actor. Before studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart from 1988 to 1990, he attended König-Karlmann-Gymnasium Altötting. He worked as an ani ...

. It is an adult-animated illustration of the lyrics that depicts

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

as Jägermeisters. During the chorus, the liquid's path through the mouth is shown. Along the way, the band members are seen drinking. The video follows the lyrics and is divided into sections beginning with a group of Jägermeisters performing a dance routine. Their number decreases verse by verse, as they each get into different situations which always end with a violent death of one of them. At the end of the video, the only surviving Jägermeister invites nine new Jägermeisters. ''("Drum lud er sich zum Osterfest neun neue Meister ein")'' This differs from the original album lyrics, which end with the death of the second-last Jägermeister, followed by the refrain. The video was censored by

MTV Germany MTV Germany is a German language free-to-air television channel operated by Paramount Global. The channel launched on 7 March 1997 as MTV Central, as part of a regionalisation strategy by Paramount Global, then MTV Networks Europe. Availabi ...

due to containing illegal drugs, nudity, and realistic weapons.

Track listing

# "Zehn kleine Jägermeister" (Rohde/Müller, Frege) − 4:21 # "

We Love You "We Love You" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones that was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. It was first released as a single on 18 August 1967, with "Dandelion" as the B-side. The song peaked at number eight in Bri ...

" ( Jagger/Richards) − 3:10 (

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

cover) # "Der König aus dem Märchenland" (''The king from the fairytale land'') (Breitkopf/Frege) − 4:15

Charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zehn kleine Jagermeister 1996 singles Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in Germany Number-one singles in Switzerland Die Toten Hosen songs Songs written by Campino (singer) 1996 songs