8 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A

Kommienezuspadt Lyrics

(Pretend German)
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt

Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich

Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
And we can't be late
And we can't be late

(Pretend German)
And we can't be late
Kommiene, Kommiene
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt

(Pretend German)
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt

Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich

Kommienezuspadt
Kommienezuspadt

Ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha, ha
Kommienezuspadt

(Pretend German)
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
And we can't be late
Sei punktlich
Sei punktlich
Kommienezuspadt
Kommiene, kommiene, kommiene, kommiene
Kommienezuspadt
8 Meanings

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Add your thoughts...
Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

"Komme nie zu spät" is "Dont' be late" in German. I don't know if there's a point to his misspelling it, but it goes along with all the pretend German he spews in the song between the English lines. "Sei punktlich" means "Be punctual". Basically it's the rabbit stressing down the hole as if his life depended on it. Fun song.

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

I think "kommienezuspadt" means "don't be late" in German but I'm not entirely sure.

That's right, though it's somewhat misspelled :)

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

In an interview, Tom said how people would come up to him after hearing this song and say things like "I didn't know you spoke Romanian (or any other language)" and although sometimes he would play as if he in fact did speak the language, he really was speaking mostly gibberish in this song........ He calls it subvocalising.

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

haha

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

Anyone speak German?

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

I speak German! ;)

"Kommienezuspaedt" is an Americanised spelling version of "Komme nie zu spät" or "Komm nie zu spät" (Tom Waits pronounces it relatively well) which, yes, translates out to "Don't be late". It's therefore not "pretend German" per se.

I don't think whoever transcribed these lyrics was saying that the entire song was pretend German, but that before particular stanzas, Tom would make up German-sounding phrases, which he'd then follow with the "Don't be late" or "Be punctual" lines

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

this song was in a play called alice, which was loosely based on alice in wonderland. i assume then that this is a reference to the white rabbit

Cover art for Kommienezuspadt lyrics by Tom Waits

The song is used in a scene early in the animated movie "Idiots and Angels" by Bill Plympton in 2008. The jumpy grumbly song is perfect for Plympton's surreal animation when a man in a bar sexually harasses a pretty lady cleaning the floor, and then in a scuffle, he gets bitten and beaten by her in retaliation.

Song Fact
 
Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.

Ask a question...