Ohne dich

"Ohne dich" can be seen as expressing mourning over the loss of a loved person. It also has several references to the environmentalism movement, especially about longing to go into the woods ("ich werde in die Tannen gehen") and the book Silent Spring which is about a future where the birds have died and the springs therefore are silent - "und die Vögel singen nicht mehr" ("and the birds no longer sing"). It follows a slow, even romantic ballad style. The central motif is "Without you, I cannot be..., With you, I am alone also...". This song also features how death is not just mourning but a bond between the people that are there at the funeral. It's not all about death, it's about the remembrance of this person and how they brought everyone closer.

The visuals play off what are called Heimatfilms and the reference to the Vögel no longer singing could refer also to the Wandervogel with a nostalgic feeling of loss of the freedom they embodied, which was manifested with ballads and nature wandering.

The song debuted live in its beta version in 2000, in a concert just for members of the fan club . After that, it was dropped during the 2001–02 Mutter tour. It returned to the setlists for the 2004–05 Reise, Reise tour, in which it was played in almost every concert, exceptions being festivals. Usually, sparks would rain over Till Lindemann during the final chorus. In those of the live shows that Apocalyptica was the support act, they played the cellos in the song. The song wasn't played in the Liebe ist für alle da tour, but it reappeared for the Made In Germany 1995–2011 tour, Download festival 2013 and the European Stadium Tour 2019.

The video was filmed in the Kaun Valley and on the Großglockner in Tyrol, Austria. It shows the band climbing in the mountains when Rammstein's vocalist Till Lindemann falls and gets badly hurt. In the night, while the band sits in the tent Till, with gangrene eating away at his injured leg, longingly watches up on a mountain peak. The music starts again as the band starts to climb the mountain, carrying Till on their shoulders. In the end, they reach the mountain peak, Till takes a look around and dies satisfied (note that in the tent, one of his friends is "engraving" their names on a pan's lid to leave as a testimony of their presence on the mountain as others have done; the most vulnerable or least capable/experienced of the team is put at the back as Till is being kept).

CD Maxi-Single[1]

1. Ohne dich (Album Edit) – 4:31
2. Ohne dich (Mina Harker's Version) Remix by Laibach – 4:09
3. Ohne dich (Sacred Mix) Remix by Sven Helbig – 4:34
4. Ohne dich (Schiller Mix) – 5:22
5. Ohne dich (Under Byen Remix) – 5:48
6. Ohne dich (Beta Version) – 4:23

CD Single[2]

1. Ohne dich (Album Edit) – 4:31
2. Ohne dich (Mina Harker's Version) Remix by Laibach – 4:09

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics