Das Ubermensch Lyrics – Operation Mincemeat
Das Ubermensch Lyrics
Third Reich on the mic
Reich on the mic
Third Reich on the mic
Reich on the mic
Third Reich on the mic
Reich on the mic
Third Reich on the mic
(Übermensch)
Girl, you know you got me looking at you
And you're looking just a little confused
With all of those opinions and conflicting views
(Yeah yeah, yeah yeah)
Girl, don't you wanna be like us? (Like us)
No choice, no decisions, no fuss
Take a dash of fascism, fill your cup
It's great
Slip off that democracy
Let us take ze lead
The less choic? you have
The more you feel free
This is th? Reich on the mic
The Übermensch in your brain
Sending adrenaline to the
Aryan blood in your veins
With the fascism fashion, yeah
We got style for days
And you know "Deutschland über alles"
Is our favourite phrase
We are the future, society's engineers
Ridding Germany of vermin, we are pushing frontiers
Now watch as every single enemy of truth disappears
And did we mention that this Reich will last a thousand years?
Hands up for the Führer all night
Goose-step to the left
Jump to the far right
It's a Reich, it's a Reich
And we're going all night
Fünf, vier, drei, zwei, eins
(Boom goes the dynamite)
Das Übermensch
Das Übermensch
We got that special intense kind of tension
We climbed so high, you can't deny our ascension
We're taking man to another dimension
So right now, you'd better stand to attention
Hands up, hands up
Hands up, hands up
Hands up, hands up
Put your hands up
Hands up, hands up
Hands up, hands up
Hands up, hands up
Put your hands up
Hey!
Now watch me break it down
Das Übermensch, on the path we starting
You'll soon be under the Reich we running
You think we're badass? You ain't seen nothing
Democracy, you won't see us coming
Hands up for the Führer all night
Goose-step to the left
Jump to the far right
It's a Reich, it's a Reich
You must bow to our might
Fünf, vier, drei, zwei, eins
(Boom goes the dynamite)
Das Übermensch — Song Overview
Review and Highlights
I hear this as the show’s sharpest bait-and-switch. The beat hits like boy-band/K-pop, lights pumping, voices in formation. Then the text slides the knife: authoritarian slogans dressed as party talk. It’s propaganda as earworm, which is the point. The track works because it’s fun until you clock what you’re dancing to.
Highlights
- Form as argument - chart-pop tropes carry anti-democratic messaging, exposing how style can sugarcoat power.
- Ensemble precision - tight unison moves to stacked harmonies, then to rap-like patter. The groove never lets go.
- Lyric bullseyes - “Reich on the mic,” crowd-control commands, and the “thousand years” boast - all turned into hooks you’re meant to distrust.
Creation History
Written by SpitLip for Operation Mincemeat, the track opened Act 2 in the West End run and arrived early as a pre-release single before the full cast album dropped in May 2023. On record, the production leans into glossy pop textures while keeping theatre diction crisp enough to land the satire.
Song Meaning and Annotations
Plot
We flip perspectives: five Nazi soldiers hype their movement like an idol group launching a tour. It’s all directives and dopamine - hands up, jump, feel free by having fewer choices. The number reframes the war from the enemy’s dance floor, so Act 2 starts with a queasy laugh and a clear target.
Song Meaning
It’s a pop single about obedience. The satire shows how authoritarianism sells itself - less choice as freedom, violence as a vibe, nationalism as merch. The mood is seductive, then chilling once the slogans land. The context is 1940s fascism refracted through 21st century hooks, reminding us how style can launder ideas.
Annotations
The Nazis considered themselves the Third German Reich after the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire.
That lineage flex isn’t historical humility. It’s branding - claiming inevitability by linking to empires past.
The Übermensch, or Superman, was a concept created by Friedrich Nietzsche... taken and twisted by the Nazis to morally justify their mistreatment of other groups.
Their “superman” verse rides a misread philosophy to sell hierarchy as destiny. The beat makes it catchy; the misquote makes it lethal.
Directly addressing an unspecified ‘girl’ is a common trope in many pop songs by 21st century boy bands... also alludes to strict gender roles.
Flirtation doubles as indoctrination. The “no choice” line collapses romance into policy.
“Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”... became closely linked with the Nazi regime.
Dropping that phrase inside a club chant shows how easily patriotism can be weaponized when divorced from ethics.
The Nazis created huge concentration camps... the horrific scale of the murder led to the creation of the term “Genocide”.
The second verse’s talk of “vermin” isn’t metaphor. It’s a blueprint for dehumanization that history already followed.
“Goose-step to the left / Jump to the far right”... references instruction-dance lyrics.
They choreograph assent. It’s darkly funny until you realize the joke ends with your arm in the air.
The deep voice here is Felix Hagan, one of the co-creators of Operation Mincemeat.
A tiny meta-wink: the writers literally voice the threat to underline the satire.
Style and instrumentation
Punchy kick, synth bass, chantable hooks, precision claps. Vocals ride the pocket in unison before splitting into harmonies and rap cadences. It’s built to feel like a stadium banger that curdles on contact with the words.
Language and symbols
- Hands up - a party cliché repurposed as coercion.
- Countdowns - spectacle timed to violence, turning attack into drop.
- Engineer talk - “society’s engineers” masks control as optimization.
Key Facts
- Artist: SpitLip and the Original West End company
- Writers: David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts
- Producer (album): Steve Sidwell
- Label: Sony Music Entertainment UK
- Single release: April 21, 2023
- Album release: May 12, 2023 - Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical (Original Cast Recording)
- Track #: 10
- Length: 2:31
- Genre: musical theatre satire, boy-band/K-pop pastiche
- Instruments: rhythm section, synths, programmed percussion, brass hits
- Language: English with German phrases
- Music style: chant-heavy pop with rap-patter breaks
Questions and Answers
- Why start Act 2 with the enemy singing?
- To reset stakes with a shock. Hearing their rhetoric framed as pop shows how ideology recruits through pleasure.
- Is the song making light of fascism?
- No - it satirizes the sales pitch. The joke lands on the delivery system, not the victims.
- What does the title add?
- It flags the philosophical theft at the core of the regime’s story about itself.
- How does the music help the critique?
- By being irresistible. The better it sounds, the more alarming the words feel - that friction is the warning label.
- Does it echo Act 1’s opener?
- Yes. “Born to Lead” and this track both swagger, which invites us to compare righteous confidence with violent certainty.
Awards and Chart Positions
- Olivier Awards 2024: Operation Mincemeat won Best New Musical; Jak Malone won Best Supporting Actor in a Musical.
- UK Official Charts - Soundtrack Albums: the cast recording peaked at No. 5 with multiple weeks on the tally; also appeared on the Album Downloads Chart (peak No. 26).
How to Sing Das Übermensch
Vocal setup - think boy-band unit: tight unison, clean thirds, quick swaps to solo lines with swagger. Keep consonants percussive; sit right on the kick.
Flow & diction - patter needs crisp T/K/P on the downbeats. German phrases land best when clipped, not caricatured.
Blend & staging - match vowels in unison to feel like one voice. Choreo counts should align with the chant sections so the physical snap sells the satire.
Acting note - play it dead-serious. The comedy lives in the audience realizing how catchy coercion sounds.
Additional Info
- Staging beats often include torchlights aimed into the auditorium and “hands up” crowd calls - a deliberate collision of party language with forced compliance.
- The title and lyric riff on misappropriated philosophy and anthem fragments to show how ideology cherry-picks culture.