Wachstum über alles [English translation]

Driven by the desire for accrual

Drunk with velocity

Vanity, Growth, and Ego

are three deadly sins of our times.

Our hunger is limitless

Why aren't we ever full?

Our progress is merciless,

Our cards are overbid1

Our hunger is limitless

Why aren't we ever full?

Blind from greed, no one here sees,

that all growth has a limit.

Growth, growth over all,2

over everything in the world.

Let us all strive after it,

until the last penny drops.3

Vanity and greed and ego

are what holds the world together.

Growth, growth over all,

over everything in the world.

Like pestilence and vermin

our money grows through interest.

Standstill means death-everything must grow

like the margin of profit.

Everything keeps growing mercilessly,

setting the whole word on fire!

Let's sell our own grandmothers4

An eye for an eye, a hand for a hand!

This plague grows mercilessly

until the end of this road.

This tumor grows in you too,

cus' wild growth is also a name for cancer.5

Growth, growth over all,

over everything in the world.

Let us all strive after it,

until the last penny drops.

Vanity and greed and ego

are what holds the world together.

Growth, growth over all,

over everything in the world.

Growth, growth over all,

over everything in the world.

Corruption and avarice and interests

are requisite for money-

Grow in the gleaming of our gold,

Grow dear account balance!

1. The idea here might be that one has bet too much on a bad hand(of cards), or it might be a reference to the card game "Skat" (or another similar card game that use the german term "Reizen" for "bidding.") See wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skat_(card_game)#Bidding2. several lines and the melody of the chorus is a parody of both the older version of the German national anthem (1922-1945) and the newer one." See here for more info on the lyrics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschlandlied "Over all" is a bit of an awkward formulation in English. I've seen "above all" translated for the line of anthem, but I don't think that's much better. Either way, the sentiment comes accross3. in the metaphorical sense of "until the last person understands" 4. Idiom, "über Leichen gehen' literally means "to go over corpses."5. Can also mean "wild growth is a sign of cancer, due to "heißen" having multiple meanings.