Under Our Spell: German Version Translated Literally

Under Our Spell is the song that brought me into this fandom. I’m not joking; it made me watch Rainbow Rocks and thus watching the rest of Equestria Girls.

I watched everything in English. Considering the songs are in English, it made sense to watch them in English, right?

Anyway, I grew up and live in Germany, so I speak German. And there is a German version of this song. As songs go, translating literally will mess up everything (rhymes, rhythm etc.) so there are small differences in sentences and word choices. However, the general or at least overall meaning is kept.

Well, I decided it would be fun to translate the German version back in English—word for word without caring for sentence structure. German is more loose with it due to word endings describing the cases, but even if not, there are still differences in which order is correct—this making a literal translation sound really weird.

And weird is funny, at least for me

So, here it is:

Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
One looks it you not at all at*
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
You are in our spell
 
You have it not felt
Music has you hypnotised
From serene sky** began it 
Now are you in our spell
 
Everybody moves oneself like we want
All make, what they shall
We decide every step
what we wish, make you with*** (2x)
 
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
One looks it you not at all at
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
You are in our spell

Who here my voice answer****
Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh
will from their spell infatuate
Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh
In the net captivated are you
Oh-whoa-oh-oh-oh
Soon already sing everyone with me
 
Everybody moves oneself like we want
All make, what they shall
We decide every step
what we wish, make you with (2x)
 
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
One looks it you not at all at
Oh-whoa-oh, oh-whoa-oh
You are in our spell (2x)

*not at all at -> “not at all” is the translation of “gar nicht”. The second at is “an”, which belongs to “look at” and is put at the end of the sentence in German

**from serene sky -> Correct translation would be “out of the sky”/”out of nowhere”

***make you with -> “join you in” is more true to the original meaning, but I allowed myself to translate each part without the context

****answer -> in context the translation would be “hear”, but “erhören” has another meaning on its own