hilaReleased during the First Intifada, this song is written as a continuous conversation between fathers and sons over the course of generations as they journey toward “a new land.” The lyrics, provided below in English, subtly explore controversial issues in Israeli society, such as the desire to conquer new land, lack of contact with and understanding of the Arab neighbors, questions of ethics and morality, and the hope for a better future. It became an anthem of the 2011 social protest movement, as seen in the following video, in which Shlomo Artzi performed the song on stage with the leaders of the movement at one of the largest protests in Israel’s history.
See the Hebrew lyrics of the chorus below and the complete Hebrew lyrics here.
יש לי אישה, זאת אמא שלך
ניסע, ניסע, אולי נגיע עד מחר
אם לא נאט, לא נביט, לא נשים לב לפרטים
לא נגיע לארץ חדשה
לא נגיע, נגיע, נגיע לארץ חדשה
New Land
Rain is already falling, it’s winter
Tel Aviv is jammed, as is Haifa
Sit, boy, sit
I’m telling you to sit
And the two of us are traveling on dirt roads
Gazing through the window glass
We have a land, why another?
Outside, a Monday sunset
And Arabs are praying because it’s some festival
Companion on such a winter journey looks at me
His legs are short but his head is wise
Together we’re on an escape, everything here is moving, he tells me,
You’re a dad, and you’re also a human being
Gazing through the window glass
Sensitive eyes he has, yes, yes
It’s strange how the foreign enemy
Looks both inhuman and fearful
I have a woman, she’s your mother
We’ll go, we’ll go, maybe we’ll reach tomorrow
If we don’t slow down, don’t look, don’t notice the details
We won’t get to a new land…
A pair of sheep walk into the road
We won’t run them over, we don’t do things like that
Sit, boy, sit
I’m telling you to sit
Flowing milk doesn’t mean miracles
He draws a camera from his pocket
Thinks heaven is something exact
Denies that he’s cold
And snaps shots so we’ll remember what was
I read in the paper about a woman a hundred years old
Who spent her life doing good deeds
Sit, boy, sit
I’m telling you to sit
Not everyone was born bad
But she died quite a while ago
Your father will die someday too
No, heaven doesn’t exist
Maybe a new land does
I have a woman, she’s your mother…
Rain is already falling, it’s winter
Once, everything was rosy
Sit, boy, sit, why cling to the past
Something is screeching in my memory
Gazing through the street signs
We have eyes so that we can gaze
Tell me, he asks me, will they
Will they even let us go in?
Companions on such a winter journey as this, I’m already missing
My father is sleeping, old and withdrawn
With him I walked, with the eyes I no longer have
Now, my boy, with me you walk
Gazing through the window glass
We have a land, why another?
Outside, a Monday sunset
Inside, I and he are as one man
I have a woman, she’s your mother