Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Bella Belisima (from "Lazooz") Part II

She replied to the journalist that
she didn't have time to think.
She replied to the journalist that
she didn't have time to think.

Bella Belisima, Bella Belisima...

That incident with the woman in
imprinted in my head.
Where did she get the strength
to lie there without moving,
without fear.

I ask myself
what I would have done in her place
if asthe same moment
I had been
in the area.

It's clear to me that I wouldn't have gone over
to kick him
But to be fair and tell the truth
I don't think I would have been
capable
of behaving like her.

Much more typical of me to get up
and run away
Or at the most
try to find a cop
or something.

But she lay there until her strength waned.
For twenty minutes she took all those kicks
Her children, they watched
they did not stop crying.

Bella Belisima, Bela Belisima...

This lady did not become a symbol
And her name has been effectively
erased from all consciousness.

There is no stamp with her face
Perhaps because Israel is not yet ready
and is not yet willing
to accept a hero
whose heroism is not in war --
a hero whose heroism is not in the military,
a hero whose heroism is just moral,
a hero who is a woman,
and a haredi, too.

Know this,
dear woman,
I did not forget
The story of your heroism.
I promised to myself
that this story is worth education children with

It's a story that is worth educating children with,
It's a story that is worth educating children with,
It is a story that is worthy...

Bella Belisima, Bella Belisima...

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Shalom Salam Peace (from "Hamechona Shel Hagroove")

Shalom Salaam Peace

Shalom Salaam peace
It's also possible here,
not just in Paris or in Nice or in Addis Ababa.

Discos full of people,
they are all dancing because they are all content.
Smiling, dancing, singing.
They are blessed with peace.
Because there is peace.

Shalom Salaam peace.
Shalom Salaam peace
It's also possible here
Not just in Paris or in Tunis or in Nice Nice Nice.

We'll rout out the enemies,
We'll meet the hostility.
We'll defeat the terror,
We'll spread love.
No one wants to die,
But if we must
Then isn't it preferable in Levi's [jeans]
In place of a uniform?

With the help of weed
We'll banish the sadness.
They all can dance now,
To live within the beat.

Shalom Salaam peace.
Shalom Salaam peace,
It's possible here, too,
Not just in Paris or in Nice or in Amsterdam,
But here, too.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Bella Belisima (from "Lazooz")

Bella Belisima (from Lazooz)

This is a story
worth educating children with
This is a worthy
story
Tuesday, 12th May, 1992
A woman steps out of her house
in Jerusalem
Normal, standard day
nothing special
like any other day

A load of kids in the streets --
There was a teachers' strike
Same time exactly a revolting terrorist
Pulls out a kitchen knife
and
with it
stabs two innocent kids

Another mad, cruel attack
Another nationalist attack

He sets off running because a mob
is in pursuit
And catches him after a few
seconds
in the car park.
Tens of people kicking him --
They want to close the score

I don't judge them
It's an irrational event
It's a flawed situation
awful, revolting, unclear

But then turns up the woman
and alters the end of the story
Because she straight off throws
herself on the terrorist
and
protects wit her body
the terrorist
who is also a human
though without
her body
would have ended up a corpse

"I don't understand,
weren't you afraid with that madman
beneath you
and the mob so close?
Wouldn't it have been easier to give up and leave?"

to be continued

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Gabi & Debbie (Gabi V Debbie) from “Lazooz”

Gabi & Debbie (Gabi V Debbie) from “Lazooz”
courtesy of http://www.teev.com/hadag/elyrics.htm

Listen to this short story
Maybe even a little funny
About the day I met
Gabi and Debbie with the magic stick.

I went over one evening in all innocence
Looked around here and there
When suddenly everyone was talking English
And they all went black and white.

Everyone was there:
Miss Ding Dong
Scooterman,
And that cowboy, whatsisname?
There was Dr. Half-Baked
Mr. Kashtan
Jeremy Kaplan
And his dad, too.

And Gabi and Debbie,
But they were standing apart.
Debbie seemed pissed,
And Gabi troubled.

They said they’d lost
Some magic stick
And asked me if I’d mind
Helping them find it?
Said, “Cool – there a prize for the finder?”

They told me that if I find it
They’d fly to any place in the world
I wanted.

Found the stick in a flash
Because Gabi had put it in his back pocket,
The f***wit [or: jerk]

“Woohoo!”
I shouted like Homer Simpson
On ecstasy.

Let’s fly to Paris Sheraton Hotel
There there is a Bru La Fot
And an amazing brothel
That’s were I’d like to be.

Debbie cleared her throat and said,
“You have to understand.
We’d be happy to oblige,
But we have unfortunately a few limitations.
First of all, this is educational TV,
So the message has to be positive.
You don’t have in mind some place more Zionistic?”

“What is Zionistic?” I said. “What? Like Herzl?”
OOPS!
We landed in Basle.

HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]

Herzl is leaning on his balcony
So mellow.
The moment I saw him
I was turned off.

Is he not ashamed to chill out like nothing’s up
When the whole country’s
going up in fire.
What is he
Oblivious?

I looked him real well in the eyes
From close up.
What a hoot/How amazing
The pupis dilated
And the white of the eye
--what’s this? –
all red.
“Psst,” I whispered
“Looks like he’s stoned.”

Gabi said,
“Shut up, play it cool.”

But I couldn’t hold back
And I went for the visionary
Of the State
With no ebarrassment.

With all the details of
The awful and hard state of the nation
I told him of the car accidents
I told him of the handicapped on strike
I told him of the quarter million unemployed
And I told him of the corrupt politicians.

Herzl didn’t respond
Just smiled broadly
Stuck his had deep in his pocket.

I try to emphasize
That there’s no peace,
No security
That I’ve had enough of living in terror

Herzl just put me a
Pill on a my tongue
And said
“If you take it, it won’t be a dream!”

HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]

I didn’t succeed in understanding
What had happened to me
Suddenly I have a carbine in my hands
I found myself in the battle for Tel Hai.

Woa
I don’t want a weapon
I don’t have the desire
I’ve got a profile of 21 [a psychological profile that allows release from the army, number 21]

But Gabi told me that
The story of Tel Hai
Is very significant
And it’s important
To learn about it.

I recognized Trumpeldor
Immediately
What a weapon
Nu, the one with the arm
Or actually, without.

“How’s it going, Yosef?” I asked politely.
But Trumpeldor was edgy
And angry.

Suddenly the wind blew up a dust cloud.
Trumpeldor choked and croaked
And spat out some green stuff
Right next to us
And afterwards coughed
And said,
“It’s good to gob n our land…”

HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]

Suddenly it all got
Too much for me.
My legs gave way,
I fell to the floor and yelled,
“Enough!”

“This trip was supposed to have been
A real treat
It’s no fun with you guys
At all.
You screwed me over,
You screwed me over!”

Debbie recovered first,
And turned to me with
A motherly look.

“You’re right,” she said,
“Now we’ll fly
Wherever you want,
Wherever you say.”

Oh, at last!

“Just not to Jerusalem 2002,”
I said.

But apparently they didn’t
Hear the
“Not.”

Because precisely to here
“To where?”
Exactly to here
“Where?”
Precisely to here I returned.

HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]
HaDag Nahash is doing Zionist rap [lit., hip hop]

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Numbers (Mispurim) from “Lazooz”

Numbers (Mispurim) from “Lazooz”

One is the number of countries
Between the Jordan River and the sea

Two is the number of countries
That will one day be here.

Three year and four months
Is the time I gave to the TZAHAL (I.D.F.)

I didn’t sign on
I was at the Nachal.


Five shekels is what it costs to ride the bus
Well truthfully/actually, four ninety.
But until the CD [lit., disk] comes out
You have another few months.

I was a child of six
When Saadat came to Israel [lit., the land]
A child of seven when they signed the treaties/agreements.

Eight is the number of Uri Malmillian
Who is without a doubt the hero of my childhood.

Nine times I was too close to a terrorist attack
At least – for now [or: so far].

Ten is the answer that is most Israeli
To the question “What’s up?”

I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven, twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven, twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.

My wife is a woman of twenty-seven
I am a man of thirty.

It is coming very close to the time
That we want to have [lit. bring (into the world)] children.

But we also want them to have it all:
Food, clothes, soccer/ball games, games/toys.

To the executive director of HaPoalim Bank
This does not matter
Because he brings home every day
Twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred, sixteen shekel.

“Every day?” God damn it!

Divide this by two or fifteen
And this is still a monthly salary that is [pretty] good for today.

They agree with me, do the thousands of fired workers from the textile factories
In the south.

The growth in Israel in 2001
Was negative 0.6%

People who until yesterday had jobs
See a tomato in the garbage and think
“What a waste.”

The state of the economy of Israel is the worst it has been
In the last forty-eight years.

“Forty-eight?
To me that number is familiar!
Where is it from?”

Four cellular companies compete
For the ears
Of seventy-five percent of Israelis.

The executive director of Cellcom
Goes to the bank once a month,
Deposits a salary of
Six-hundred, seventy-four thousand shekel.

There are a quarter of a million of unemployed
Thirty-six thousand of them were added this year.

It looks like Eli Luzon was right when he sings…
[plays a bit of Luzon’s number-one hit in Israel]

I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.
I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four, seven twelve months.

Forgers offer for ten shekel
The CD [lit., disk] that we worked on for four years.

The dollar went up in tens of agurot
In three weeks
Which raised the rent [lit., cost] of the apartment for
Hundreds of thousands of people.

In your pocked
There isn’t enough
To pay for school books and diapers

What did the government do in response?
Cut 12 percent off from the child support [payment].

When a woman goes to work
She makes every hour
Seven shekel and 10 agurot
On average less
From what a man doing the same job would make.

And I am not a prophet
But between five hundred and six hundred people
Will die this year in the streets.

Dear Minister of Transportation:
How do these numbers make you feel?

And still, the number that is biggest until today
That holds the hope but represents the disaster
It makes pause
Every person that is sane…

Six million

I too, like all the Jews, am busy/obsessed with numbers.
Twenty-four/seven, twelve months.

[this repeats. On each repetition, “am busy/obsessed with numbers, Twenty-four/seven, twelve months” slowly fades until all that is sung is]

I, too, like all the Jews…

Lo Frayerim (Not Suckers) from "Lazooz"

This translation courtesy of http://www.teev.com/hadag/elyrics.htm

Not Suckers
How much longer?
In our dreams we'll sail like a Mig
Look out from above all the stink
from a safe distance
which is five minutes
from Kfar Saba

How much longer?
Close our eyes to what's happening under our noses
and pretend everything is Sababa [BonzGirl note: sababa=slang for "cool" or "OK"]
We'll bring a beer from the fridge
and zap to a different channel

How much longer?
think about tokes and drinks and shags forever
so what that my next-door neighbor's Danny is an orphan?

I was at the funeral
and went over for the shiva [BonzGirl: 7-day mourning period]
but it is too much for me to break the cycle of suffering.

And we'll do reserve duty,
pay our taxed
and we'll get stuck in traffic
(no one screws with us)

We are definitely, definitely , definitely not
We're definitely not frayerim [BonzGirl: suckers]

My mates say enough, enough
of being so heavy
and I don't disagree
but the situation's
absurd
try to get some of these examples
and if you don't manage
then wait for me

Cos [BonzGirl: because] if here a missile fell
there there is another bomb shell
what does it matter
who'll take over
from Jordan, Katash, or Shakil

And if here it's a combat zone
there a minefield
what does it matter if i pay by cheque [BonzGirls: for USAers, that's "Check"]
credit or cash
and if water is 700
and rates are 200

of course I'll take part in the latest discount deal...
Left -- right -- look to the sides

And we'll do reserve duty, pay our taxes
And we'll get stuck in traffic
(no one screws with us)

We are definitely, definitely,
definitely not
we're definitely not frayerim

And we'll do reserve duty
pay our taxes
and we'll get stuck in traffic

Anachnu Betach betach
betach lo
Anachnu Betach lo
frayerim
[We're definitely...]

and sometimes everything looks just weird
not connected
like a nun in a brothel
or a whore in a monastery

every thing's going from bad to worse
tear emerges from the eye
spills over onto the cheek
and you?

I cry about it all.
Weep at how it all could have been
major here
could have been

harmony

between synagogue and
flack-jacket to the mosque
shopping mall, church, it all could have been one
instead there's this feeling
of
help!

Living with this sense of "as if"
without looking reality in the face
with no attempt to move forward
only to float
disconnect

Do everything not to get screwed
do everything not to get screwed

and we'll do our reserve duty
pay our taxes
and we'll get stuck in traffic
(no one screws with us)

We are definitely, definitely
definitely not
We're definitely not frayerim

and we'll do our reserve duty
pay our taxes
and we'll get stuck in traffic
(no one screws with us)

Anachnu betach betach
betach lo
anachnu betach lo
frayerim...

[repeat]

First things first...

This is a blog dedicated to translating all of the Hadag Nahash songs. If I take a translation off another site, I shall credit it. I am in no way affiliated with Hadag Nahash, its producers, record company, etc. I do this as a public service.