Hamas War

Thursday, March 1, 2007

What does this nutty song say about Israel?

I'm sure you must have guessed it, I'm referring to Israel's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, "Push Da Button." (Thanks to AR on etni, who wrote that Atlas Shrugs has a link to the song.)

I must admit that I hadn't heard it, and each promo for the TV show to choose which song gave me such a sinking feeling in my stomach that I just didn't want to know.

First of all, the group representing Israel is known by two names, "Tea Packs" and "Tippex." That's because when Israelis see the name in Hebrew letters, טיפקס, they guess the vowels. They're more familiar with the letters spelling "Tippex" than "Tea Packs." In addition, as a high school English teacher, I can testify that most flub their vowels and are oblivious to the differences in pronunciation.

When I heard the song, all I could think of was that the people who voted for it are the same sort of young people who voted for the Retiree Party in the latest Israeli elections, would you believe less than a year ago? Exit polls and other data collection showed that most of their votes came as a protest vote.

It's a tri-lingual song written by its lead, Kobi Oz. Basically, either the Eurovison voters will either love it or hate it. So either it'll do well, or it'll be down at the bottom. My taste in music is too "me" to make a guess. But honestly, having grown up during the cold war and being of the generation which was taught to hide under wooden desks if Russia attacked with an atomic bomb, I find the topic of the song stranger than peculiar.

"Messages are exploding on me
Missiles are flying and also falling me
Police and thieves are running all over me
They jump on me and feed on me
My god, my god, give me answer my god, Hashem
This nightmare is too long
When I'm barely alive and everyone is aiming at me,
Perhaps it's too early to sing
When I gave you my life
Oh Oh - the Police
Whoa Whoa - Rescue Unit
Here is a song without a scale
Red is not just a color, it's more like blood'

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