The song is about the golden statue of a horseman, usually a former ruler like a king, and in this case, it specifically references the statue dedicated to King Augustus the Strong in Dresden, the most famous Goldener Reiter.
The song “Goldener Reiter” (Golden Horseman) is Joachim Witt's first and, thus far, biggest hit. It featured in his 1980 album Silberblick, reaching second place in the German charts and becoming one of the best-known examples of the so-called “Neue Deutsche Welle” (the NDW, or New German Wave) of the seventies and eighties. The title is typical of the movement. It refers to the golden statue of a horseman, usually a former ruler like a king, and in this case, it specifically references the statue dedicated to King Augustus the Strong in Dresden, the most famous Goldener Reiter. Many NDW songs combine historical and sometimes fairytale-like subjects with contemporary and more prosaic features. Other examples include Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft's “Der Räuber und der Prinz” and Neue Heimat’s cover of “Ich bau dir ein Schloss.”
In “Goldener Reiter,” the historical horseman is contrasted with the contemporary German city of Dresden. The “Umgehungsstraße der Stadt” (the city bypass) is mentioned, alongside the “Einkaufszentren” (shopping malls) and “Lichter der Stadt” (city lights). However, the most important element is the one repeated three times in different forms, the mental health treatment facility: “Nervenklinik,” “Klinik,” and “Behandlungszentren.” The song is written from the point of view of the Goldener Reiter. It describes a person who was once successful – “high on the ladder,” so to speak – and who has now fallen down: “Ich war so hoch auf der Leiter (…) doch dann fiel ich ab.” This makes it sound like the person has been overconfident or even reckless, in a way comparable to the most famous and tragic example of failed ambition in ancient mythology, the tale of Icarus. Similarly, the Goldener Reiter was once successful, but has now been brought to a psychiatric hospital.
The first few lines suggest that the psychiatric hospital has the capacity of all the shopping malls of the city combined: “sie hat das Fassungsvermögen sämtlicher Einkaufszentren der Stadt.” The city (or “Stadt”) has made the Goldener Reiter crazy, and now the hospital makes him even crazier (or “verrückter”). On his way to the hospital, the city lights – a recurring motif in German 20th century poetry, which can be seen as metonyms of city life – burn in the horseman’s eyes: “Sie (die Lichter) brannten wie Feuer in meinen Augen.” In the hospital, the protagonist cannot and will not be cured, because the “neue Behandlungszentren” (new treatment facilities) do not battle the causes of life-threatening schizophrenia. The main cause, indeed, is urban society itself, which makes people feel “einsam und endlos schlapp” (lonely and worn-out). Since people cannot be cured in a psychiatric hospital, which is itself part of society, there is no way out of their misery. The song also contains nonsensical parts that reflect the subject’s mental breakdown, ending with the frantic “Lalalalalalalo,” onomatopoeically underlining the Goldener Reiter's mental despair.
