User:El C/Songs from the homeland
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Ehud Manor with his wife, Ofra Fuchs (photographed by Nachoom Assis, 1993) 
Haim Gouri (1947) 
Naomi Shemer at the Israel Prize award ceremony, Jerusalem (1983) 
Nathan Zach (photographed by Moti Kikayon, 1991) 
Leah Goldberg (1946) 
Uri Zvi Greenberg (1956) 
S. Yizhar (1951)
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Featuring songs from the homeland, with YouTube links to performances. My own English translations were added below.
Us
Us – El_C 01:37, 10 February 2021 (UTC)
I Want Us To Be Realized (now linking to official music video), instead – El_C 05:02, 10 February 2021 (UTC)
Didn't Know You'd Walk Away From Me – El_C 23:09, 10 February 2021 (UTC)
- 2013 live version by Marina Maximilian Blumin (honourable mention) – El_C 03:44, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
How Much I Do Love You – El_C 23:19, 10 February 2021 (UTC)
You See Far, You See Clear – El_C 01:35, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
- 2020 live version by Amir Benayoun, Shuli Rand and Akiva (honourable mention) – El_C 14:30, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
You Put My Hand In Yours – El_C 22:07, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
- 1997 live version by the one and only Matti Caspi (honourable mention) – El_C 22:07, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
A Place of Worry – El_C 22:36, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
- 1978 studio version again, by the one and only Matti Caspi (honourable mention) – El_C 22:36, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
What Is Love? – El_C 23:19, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
How Is It That A Star – El_C 01:18, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
A Love Song (Like A Wheel), Version 2 (both from the same 1978 studio album) – El_C 01:50, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
Sitting On The Fence – El_C 03:37, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
Fragile – El_C 03:52, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
In Praise Of Samba – 04:15, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
Where Are You? – El_C 05:46, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
Poogy Tales (Poogy Tales) – El_C 22:30, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
Tell Me – El_C 01:07, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
- Tomara by Maria Creuza (in the original Portuguese) – El_C 01:07, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
- 1978 studio version from the album ארץ טרופית יפה – El_C 04:33, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
There Were Nights (1973 Kaveret version) – El_C 05:35, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
- 1961 live version by Esther Ofarim – El_C 05:35, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
It Happens – El_C 06:10, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
Drawing – El_C 19:13, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
Yes, It Has No Chance, But Between Myself And I Everything Is Allowed
Val:
- "Us" is about the past and future of a people.
- "I Want Us To Be Realized" is a love song.
- "Didn't Know You'd Walk Away From Me" is about the heartache of a breakup.
- "How Much I Do Love Uou" is about the dread of having had to rush his daughter to the ER (she was fine in the end, thankfully!).
- "You See Far, You See Clear" is a brilliant rendition of רואים רחוק רואים שקוף.
- "You Put My Hand In Yours" is a brilliant rendition of דברים שרואים משם לא רואים מכאן.
- "A Place Of Worry" is a brilliant rendition of מקום לדאגה (שיר).
- "What Is Love?" is a brilliant rendition of מה זאת אהבה...
- "How Is It That A Star" is about how we are never truly alone.
- "A Love Song (Like A Wheel)" is about a love supreme.
- "Sitting On the Fence" is about pragmatism or opportunism? You decide!
- "Fragile" is about the struggles of a fragile person.
- "In Praise Of Samba" is about praise of Samba!
- "Where Are You?" is about a man's crisis of faith as he struggles with his Yetzer hara.
- "Poogy Tales" is about learning.
- "Tell Me" is a love song.
- "There Were Nights" (היו לילות) is about the struggle of life and love among the early halutzim.
- "It Happens" (זה קורה) is about the uncertainty of life.
- "Drawing" is about a childlike innocence in exploring the world.
- "Yes, It Has No Chance (etc.)" is seemingly about a girl's unrequited love for Avshalom Kor (the man, the legend), per official music video featured.
"You See Far, You See Clear" English translation
- It was with such great sorrow
- I had to then
- Spread my wings and fly
- To a place where
- Perhaps like Mount Nebo
- You see far, you see clear
- A man like a tree planted on water
- Seeking root
- A man like a burning bush against the sky
- In him a fire burns
- Then my way was lost
- My life was a riddle
- Thirsty like a wanderer in the desert
- For the word of truth
- Which gives the strength
- To face tomorrow
- A man...
- A fire burned in me
- So I went to seek
- For days I raged like a storm
- I returned home
- To find that you are with me
- Until the road comes to its end
- A man...
- It was...
- --Written by Yaakov Rotblit
- --Composed and originally performed by Shmulik Kraus (1983)
Honourable mention: Thank you, daydreamer for: http://1israelisong.blogspot.com/2013/02/shmulik-kraus-and-ilan-wirtzberg-seeing.html Discovered an hour ago, it has helped me so much. El_C 11:06, 13 February 2021 (UTC)
"Us" English translation
- Hey
- Who will be here the morning after
- End of the dream and its dulled edge
- What was and will no longer be
- What?
- What will remain after a war
- A tree and a house on the same soil
- Without which we can find no solace
- (Only) a wandering song that we wrote
- All of the paths that we had left behind
- A world covenant that we had forgotten
- And the brothers
- And the flowers that we had laid
- Here
- Here the initial spark was hidden
- That which since long ago is within all of us
- That which is not understood by all of us
- The heart
- It sways wherever the wind blows
- Only hope can draw near
- The friend who has become an enemy
- (Who will recall our) wandering song...
- A wandering song that we wrote
- All of the paths that we had left behind
- A world covenant that we had forgotten
- And the flowers that we had laid
- A song from our youth that we cherished
- All of the wounds that we ached
- The glory that we reaped
- And the word that for years we have not uttered
- Us!
- --Written, composed and performed by Guy Mazig (2014)
This one only took me 25 minutes, what do you know? How this one was so easy I really have no immediate explanation for (the first one took me so many hours to refine). [Update: a few minor adjustments, but still feels way, way (way) easier than the last one. Like, by several orders of magnitude.] El_C 16:28, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
"I Want Us To Be Realized" English translation
- If we don't wake then we'll remain forever
- Inside the maze without finding the exit
- We'll freeze in place and not break the ice
- Who will make a move, you or I?
- If we release when we spin, we both
- Could strip all that is on us
- Then nothing would surely come between us
- And we won't remember our difficult beginning
- It's hot, it's good, but it reaches the edge
- We are just playing with fire
- You don't need to think too much
- All in all I just want us to be realized
- If we only look and not touch then surely
- We won't resist, not withstand the tension
- In the end it will happen, we'll burn the entire field
- And nothing will go back to how it was
- So if you want to stretch the moment
- From something small that will turn to mega
- Then let's continue dancing and also try
- To twist until the fall
- It's hot...
- --Written, composed and performed by Guy Mazig (2015)
Wow, easiest one, by far. Only took me fifteen minutes this time. Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! El_C 19:46, 14 February 2021 (UTC)
- LOL! That is great! And I hope your week improves. :) —valereee (talk) 23:19, 16 February 2021 (UTC)
"Didn't Know You'd Walk Away From Me" English translation
- Didn't dream you'd walk away from me
- Without warning, without word
- Didn't dream of being struck suddenly
- Such a thunder on a clear day
- And I naively had always thought
- That none are happier than us
- And loved to have imagined us growing old togather
- A voice calls in the night
- No answer tonight
- And myself
- How I despise,
- How I will change
- For you
- You were such a sure thing
- Like a morning's coffee, like sleep
- I was not attentive at your side
- Did not develop a defense
- And perhaps you'll come back soon
- Just went to pick up a few things
- And we'll go watch a movie,
- Or decide to stay together
- A voice...
- And I naively...
- --Written by Ehud Manor
- --Composed and originally performed by Matti Caspi (1978)
No notes! El_C 16:24, 18 February 2021 (UTC)
"You Put My Hand In Yours" English translation
- You Put My Hand In Yours – El_C 22:07, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
- 1997 live version
- You put my hand in yours and you said to me
- Let's go down to the garden
- You put my hand in yours and you said to me
- Things seen from over there are not seen from out here
- You played me a song on the guitar and your voice trembled
- A spirit in me arose, a spirit in me sang, and time as if stood still
- And I still remember every taste and smell
- The plot of field in the moonlight,
- The jackal's voice from the wadi and the weight of the fruit in the orchard
- Things seen from over there are not seen from out here
- I was alone and my way was lost,
- And you came, came to me in time
- I was alone and my way was lost,
- Things seen from over there are not seen from out here
- You gave me a hand, you showed me a way toward many things
- You brought a smile as beautiful as a flower and gave me strength to believe
- And I still remember the song that you sang
- The best part of all that you said
- Hey, angel or a devil, will you come back to stop time?
- Things seen from over there are not seen from out here
- You put my hand...
- --Written by Yaakov Rotblit
- --Composed by Matti Caspi
- --Performed by Yehudit Ravitz (1980)
Again, no notes! El_C 22:07, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
"A Place Of Worry" English translation
- A Place of Worry – El_C 22:36, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
- At the edge of the sky and at the ends of the desert
- There is a far away place filled with wildflowers
- A small, wretched, and mad place
- A far away place, a place of worry
- There they tell all that will be
- There they think about all that has been
- God there sits and watches, and guards
- Over all that he has created
- You cannot pick the garden flowers,
- You cannot pick the garden flowers
- And he worries, and he worries terribly
- --Written by Yehonatan_Geffen
- --Composed by Matti Caspi
- --A duet performed by Matti Caspi and Riki Gal (1988)
Still no notes! El_C 22:36, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
"What Is Love?" English translation
- A rather small heaven
- Bordered by hell
- Angels fly
- But the wings of snow are scorched
- Tired bloodshot eyes
- One more kiss
- Till breath is lost
- When the heart breaks
- The pain is sweet, the pleasure is bitter
- What is love?
- What is love?
- What is it asking for?
- My days and nights without end
- What is love?
- What is love?
- What does it inject into my veins?
- That I could go on without limit
- That I could go on without limit
- That I could go on without limit
- That we could go on
- All my life
- On an unsteady bridge
- Fire from here and from here
- Twisting smoke clouds
- Over deep water
- A dark inverted sky
- One more merger
- Until heart to heart beats
- Here my body lies
- Eternally blessed, eternally cursed
- What is love?...
- --Written by Ehud Manor
- --Composed by Matti Caspi
- --A duet performed by Matti Caspi and Riki Gal (1988)
Notes? What are these "notes" of which you speak? El_C 23:19, 22 February 2021 (UTC)
"How Is It That A Star" English translation
- How is it that one lonesome star dares?
- How does it dare?
- For God's sake
- For God's sake
- One lonesome star,
- I wouldn't have dared
- And I am actually not alone
- --Written by Nathan Zach
- --Composed and originally performed by Matti Caspi (date unknown)
El_C 01:18, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"A Love Song (Like A Wheel)"
- Like a thin and fragile leaf
- That dissolves in light
- Like the wind which cracks
- The turtledove's coo
- Like a wheel within a wheel
- In Autumn's cycles
- Like a curl within a curl
- Her heart is in his arms
- Like a baby who plays
- With the sun in the sand
- Like time that grinds
- On a silent clock hand
- Like a wheel...
- --Written by Ehud Manor
- --Composed and originally performed by Matti Caspi, first version also featuring Etti Ankri on vocals (1978)
El_C 01:50, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"Sitting On The Fence" English translation
- Sitting on the fence
- A leg here, a leg there
- Sitting on the fence
- Alright with everyone
- Letting out smiles in all directions
- And always, always is in-the-know
- Sitting on the fence
- A leg here, a leg there
- Sitting on the fence
- Looking at the world
- Letting out smiles in all directions
- And always, always is in-the-know
- Sitting on the fence
- A leg here, a leg there
- Sitting on the fence
- Taking his time
- Letting out smiles in all directions
- And always, always is in-the-know
- Sitting thinking on the Fence
- Looking here, peeking there
- Reading a newspaper, listening to the news on time
- Enveloping himself in a smokescreen
- --Written and performed by Arik Einstein, on vocals (1982)
- --Composed and performed by Itzhak Klepter, on guitar
El_C 03:37, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"Fragile" English translation
- Fragile, easily crumbles
- Loads unto himself the entire world
- Drops like a leaf to any gentle wind
- In short, fragile, easily crumbles
- Fragile, easily crumbles
- Searching unto himself, searching all of the time
- Taking it heavy, thinking it's the end of the world
- In short, fragile, easily crumbles
- --Written and performed by Arik Einstein, on vocals (1983)
- --Composed and performed by Itzhak Klepter, on guitar
El_C 03:52, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"In Praise Of Samba" English translation
- Samba is a nice rhythm
- Inspires to play a lot
- How the sounds switch
- Like many colours
- Samba is like the beach
- Waves upon waves splash on the shore
- Samba is like a night of love that never ends
- It knows no borders
- It flies far out there within the dreams
- Samba with the coming of Spring
- You should listen
- No need for a past, a future
- Forgetting everything for a moment is allowed
- And swaying, that's the whole thing
- Because Samba is a dance
- There's nothing like the Samba
- To capture calm
- Nothing like the Samba
- It's an experience, yes
- It may be an illusion, but it makes me feel good
- South America on the map
- --Written and performed by Arik Einstein, on vocals (1982)
- --Composed and performed by Itzhak Klepter, on guitar
El_C 04:15, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"Where Are You?" English translation
- Good God, if we are to speak direct
- Sometimes I have no strength to be in your world
- Where to from your face will I hide
- How will I plea, how will I justify
- What will I say
- Merciful and compassionate, I am exposed before you
- Here is a Jew who hangs on a hairsbreadth
- Fighting the sadness, the despair that gnaws, like a worm
- Happiness has gone from me, and also wisdom
- Voices from the past whisper me to stop
- But in the darkness I continue to subvert
- And asking and pleading
- Where, where?
- Where are you?
- Where, where?
- Where are you?
- Where are you?
- That old fool slings his arrows at me
- As I falter, he strengthens
- Holy spirit, please don't weep
- Broken winged
- Will you testify how much
- I yearned
- When secrets of the past ordered me to stop
- But in the darkness I continue to subvert
- And asking and pleading
- Where, where?
- Where are you?
- Where, where?
- Where are you?
- Where are you?
- At the end of day, I will be expelled on the shore
- The merciful earth will gather me unto her
- And then I'll shout and beg and tell
- How in the darkness I subverted
- And asking and pleading and yearning
- Where are you?
- --Written, composed and performed by Shuli Rand (2008)
El_C 05:46, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"Poogy Tales" English translation
- From Poogy Tales
- From Poogy Tales
- From Poogy Tales
- There's much to learn!
- --Written, composed and performed by Danny Sanderson with Kaveret (1973)
This will be on the test! El_C 22:30, 23 February 2021 (UTC)
"Tell Me" English translation
- Tomara
- 1978 studio version
- Tonight tell me more
- So that our love will further grow
- So that it will blossom forever
- So that is should
- Since it is better to suffer together
- Than it is to live in fear
- And alone to fall from worse to worst
- You'll see you can't forget
- Sadness gives no respite
- You cannot escape
- Forever
- An hour has a passed, a week
- What a sea of longing
- But my love will not be lost
- Despite the strikes and bruises
- Let us live in the moment
- Like a moment that will never repeat
- --Written by Vinicius de Moraes
- --Translated from the original Portuguese by Ehud Manor
- --Performed by Corinne Allal (Hebrew), no English page, but this de one is for you, Gerda!
Looked at an English translation of the original Portuguese — some similarities, but quite different, overall (link). El_C 01:07, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
"There Were Nights" English translation
- There were nights, which I remember
- I will carry them until the end of my days
- On the paths, between Degania and Kinneret
- Has stood my life's loaded cart
- And he went: listen to me, little one
- I built a house for you to fill
- In the evening, you'll sew me a shirt
- I will drive your wagon in the day
- He was fair and tall as song
- He would drive wagons onto the wide field
- And I would sew him a shirt
- A shirt of blue with a gold flower
- There were nights, which I remember
- And he would testify the trees in the garden
- The trails, between Degania and Kinneret
- Because he will keep forever only I
- He would come and go from me, feverish
- He would carry my image before his face
- Tell me, do any of you know
- Where oh where has he gone not to return
- Then I would weep, then I would be astounded
- I would still walk to him in the far fields
- And I still carry his embroidered shirt
- A shirt of blue with a gold flower
- There were nights, which I remember
- I will carry them until the end of my days
- --Written by Yaakov Orland
- --Composed by Mordechai Zeira
- --Performed by Kaveret (1973)
El_C 05:35, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
"It Happens" English translation
- It happens
- When the road lengthens
- It happens
- One must go and go
- Nothing is known
- Not a year, not a week
- One must move and move
- And to think that I could
- Repeat it all
- But man, it happens
- It happened
- That my road was lengthened
- It happened
- I did not know how it came to me
- Nothing is known
- Not a year, not a week
- One must move and move
- And to think that I could
- Repeat it all
- But man, it happened
- It will happen
- And perhaps at the road's end
- That we will see
- That the road lengthens
- Nothing is known
- Not a year, not a week
- One must move and move
- And to think that I could
- Repeat it all
- But man, it will happen
- --Written and composed by Shmulik Kraus
- --Performed by Arik Lavie (1975)
El_C 06:10, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
"Drawing" English translation
- Blue sky, a boat and an eagle
- Golden red sun
- Little eyes examining and watching
- Drawing the entire world
- A house with a garden and a dovecote
- And a girl with a flowery dress
- Mother and father, and I in the middle
- Wandering among the stars
- A bird and a kite
- An airplane in the sky
- And a satellite,
- God, it is far, it is far
- It is far, it is far
- And suddenly, I am the child
- Living in a world of colours anew
- Drawing the entire world
- Living in a world of colours anew
- --Written by Ilan Gronich (Shlomo's brother)
- --Jointly composed and performed by Shlomo Gronich and Matti Caspi (1973)
A mistranslation, but still chose to supplant "vulture" with "eagle." El_C 19:13, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
"Yes, It Has No Chance (etc.)" English translation
- So, I laid and sank into a pair of blue eyes which in my imagination ask to go to that
- Wonderful place, a wondrous place, a place in which my spirit yearns, him with me to take
- Yes, it has no chance, but between myself and I everything is allowed, and only when I'll be with him for a short
- Time, to him I'd give it all
- With time, I learn more to recognize in him sides and angles with different
- People and disguises, his eyes only seek to quench me, to drench me in his arms
- It is unimportant to me the colour of his skin, and even if his tongue to me is foreign, I don't care, if only he would ask
- At once I'd carry him, to him I'd give it all
- Just one obstacle remains between his touch and I, his three dimensions, I could finally hear his
- Voice, could singlehandedly erase the past into the well of forgetfulness
- If only he would know that every day and into the night before my eyes he appears, surely we'll still hold hand
- To hand against the sunset, to him I'd give it all
- Yes, perhaps he doesn't know yet, and there is one trivial detail
- That we'll resolve when about my existence he learns
- Surely, at this very moment, he is reading all the letters
- And if we suppose just for a moment that he and I
- --Written and composed by Ofer Pinhas
- --Performed by Pinhas and Sons with Guy Mazig, also featuring Batucada Amazonas (2019)
The main performance switches between masculine and feminine pronouns as Guy Mazig and Noa Karadavid take turns between verses — but the original, which features only Noa Karadavid on vocals, is strictly in feminine pronoun. This translation reflects the latter (original) lyrics. El_C 09:02, 28 February 2021 (UTC)