Mittageisen

For the band, see Mittageisen (band).

"Mittageisen"
Single by Siouxsie and the Banshees
from the album The Scream
B-side	"Love in a Void"
Released	September 1979
Format	7" single
Recorded	1978
Genre	Post-punk
Length	03:00
Label	Polydor
Writer(s)	Siouxsie Sioux, John McKay, Kenny Morris, Steven Severin
Producer	Nils Stevenson Mike Stavrou
Siouxsie and the Banshees singles chronology
"Playground Twist" (1979) "Mittageisen" (1979) "Happy House" (1980)

"Mittageisen" is a single by the English band Siouxsie and the Banshees. Originally appearing on the band's 1978 debut album The Scream as "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)", the track was re-recorded in 1979 with this time the lyrics sung in German.

The title "Mittageisen" is a word play based on the German words "Mittagessen" (literally: "noon meal", i.e. Lunch) and Eisen ("iron"). The title was inspired by John Heartfield's photocollage Hurrah, die Butter ist Alle!^[1] ("Hurray, the Butter is Finished!"), that was also used as front cover art.

John Heartfield's photocollage was initially used on the frontpage of the "Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung / Workers Illustrated Journal", published on 19 December 1935. Heartfield (1891–1968) was an early member of the Club Dada, which started 1916 as Cabaret Voltaire in Zürich. The picture with the title 'Hurrah, die Butter ist Alle! / Hurray, the butter is finished!' shows a family who eats various pieces of metal. The trigger for it was the following quote from Hermann Göring: "Iron made a nation always strong, butter and lard made only the people fat."

"Mittageisen" was composed by Banshees members Siouxsie Sioux, John McKay, Kenny Morris and Steven Severin, the lyrics were translated by Dave Woods^[2]. The single is dedicated to John Heartfield.

The other song, "Love in a Void" was composed by Sioux, and former short-lived Banshee guitarist Peter Fenton. The track was an early live favorite, but had not been properly recorded until this release.

The record was promoted as a double A-side release at the time, but only "Mittageisen" was tracked on the UK singles chart, where it peaked at number 47. Nevertheless, "Love in a Void" was included on the 1981 compilation Once Upon a Time: The Singles. Putative A-side "Mittageisen" later appeared on the band's B-side compilation Downside Up.

"Mittageisen" was later covered by Massive Attack as "Superpredators (Metal Postcard)" in 1997 on the soundtrack to the film The Jackal. "Love in a Void" was later covered by black metal group Darkthrone, on their Too Old, Too Cold EP. The Swiss band Mittageisen was named after this song.

References

1. ^ Hurrah, die Butter ist Alle! full original poster
2. ^ Mittageisen at Discogs (list of releases)