A vaybele a tsnie

In the late 1930's, Clara and Minnie Bagelman recorded this delightful little song together with klezmer clarinetist Dave Tarras, years before they became the "Barry Sisters" and started singing kitchy mixes of Yiddish, Hebrew and English swing.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

The Great War of 1914

In honour of World War I armistice day, here's another one of my singable translations of the great french singer-songwriter Georges Brassens: his song for the glory of the Great War of 1914. I'm convinced World War I was one of the greatest stupidities in the history of Europe and mankind, and if it had been prevented, there wouldn't have been either a Nazi Germany or a Soviet Union under the command of little father of the people, Stalin. I particularly like the use of a military march for this gently sarcastic pacifist song.

My grandfather's exodus - part 10

The last in a series of ten blog entries in which my grandfather, Arieh Rabani (Lova Rabinovitch), tells his adventures walking from the Soviet Union to Israel (1927-1929). You'll find the first part here. This is the final part, where Lova tells about his first few years after arriving in Israel.

My grandfather's exodus - part 9

The ninth in a series of blog entries in which my grandfather, Arieh Rabani (Lova Rabinovitch), tells his adventures walking from the Soviet Union to Israel (1927-1929). You'll find the first part here. In this part, Lova wanders about on his own in the dark, trying to find his way across the border to Metulla.

My grandfather's exodus - part 8

The eighth in a series of blog entries in which my grandfather, Arieh Rabani (Lova Rabinovitch), tells his adventures walking from the Soviet Union to Israel (1927-1929). You'll find the first part here. In this part, Lova finds a man who claims he can help him steal the border... and gives it a try, together with an unknown teenage boy met in the streets of Beirut.

My grandfather's exodus - part 7

The seventh in a series of blog entries in which my grandfather, Arieh Rabani (Lova Rabinovitch), tells his adventures walking from the Soviet Union to Israel (1927-1929). You'll find the first part here. In this part, Lova tells about his arrival in Beirut, and how he scares the daylight out of the contact he was given there.

The Friend Ship

Here’s another one of my singable translations of the great French singer-songwriter, Georges Brassens, into English. This time it’s Les Copains d'abord: a pun in French meaning both “friends on board” and “friends first”. I tried to keep the spirit of the pun by translating it as The Friend Ship. The French original, written for the movie Les copains (1964), is probably Brassens’ most recognisable song - the movie has long been forgotten, but the song lingers on, and even most teenagers will recognise it, albeit vaguely. It is sung at almost every family gathering with my French in-laws. Needless to say, the song is about friendship, and about a boat with the same name as the song title.