Avi Goldfinger - Famous Blue Raincoat

Yesterday was the second time this week that I woke up to depressing news. But unlike waking up with a shock to a red electoral map, this time I was more prepared, and more at peace with the news. Leonard Cohen was a poet of the blues but his real talent was finding the light in the darkness and laying it out so beautifully. "Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes // I thought it was there for good so I never tried". This sincere optimism appears in many of his songs, but my favorite has to be in "Tonight will be fine", which I take pride in discovering all on my own, and not as one of the songs I heard at home off of his Essential album.
"Famous Blue Raincoat" is one of those songs included in the Essential album which I first heard and loved before I could even understand the lyrics. Avi Goldfinger presents a beautiful translation to the song and an even more beautiful vocal performance with chilly Berlin as the perfect setting. Discover more of Avi's music here.

Original lyrics:

It's four in the morning, the end of December
I'm writing you now just to see if you're better
New York is cold, but I like where I'm living
There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening.

I hear that you're building your little house deep in the desert
You're living for nothing now, I hope you're keeping some kind of record.

Yes, and Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night you planned to go clear
Did you ever go clear?

Ah, the last time we saw you you looked so much older
Your famous blue raincoat was torn at the shoulder
You'd been to the station to meet every train
And you came home without Lili Marlene

And you treated my woman to a flake of your life
And when she came back she was nobody's wife.

Well I see you there with the rose in your teeth
One more thin gypsy thief
Well I see Jane's awake

She sends her regards.
And what can I tell you my brother, my killer
What can I possibly say?
I guess that I miss you, I guess I forgive you
I'm glad you stood in my way.

If you ever come by here, for Jane or for me
And your enemy is sleeping, and his woman is free.
Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes
I thought it was there for good so I never tried.

And Jane came by with a lock of your hair
She said that you gave it to her
That night that you planned to go clear

Sincerely L Cohen

Avi Adaki - Suddenly

Avi Adaki is known as the singing plumber because that's what he does for a living, in order to be able to make meaningful protest music for his soul, and ours. Adaki just released his third album titled Eretz, though in Hebrew it is written in initials, standing for Public Rock Album. Adaki delivers his political poetry out of sincere concern, capturing the frustration and absurdity of our time.

Suddenly | thoughts took me over | about life | at least about this one
They say | And what they really | show | a middle finger

Sara wants too much | The Finance Minister less
And when they're on the same line | You are asked to be quiet

Suddenly I bumped into the facts | helplessly | I wanted others
Destroying | And when will we come to our senses | they're doing to us what they please

The Minister of Regional Cooperation | Economy | Communications | Foreign Policy
The Prime Minister | The Interior Minister | everyone can just jump it | can jump

Organized crime | financed evil | ten on a scale of nine
An armored vehicle | a well-oiled motto | whatever you want | it's there

It's there | it's | fire fire | fire fire | fire fire | shhh


An exchange of words:
lyrics: Avital Keshet

Me, dad and Nissim from the grocery shop
Exchange speech with products
It's good that speech hasn't scorched yet
There are days when you can't exchange speech
The streets are empty
The next day we get up
As if nothing happened
Luckily Nissim returns and sells to us on credit
In exchange, the word is replaced
With another word
We'll pay tomorrow
It'll be okay
Nissim says
The fear is reflected from his eyes
Brush your tongue
Always be a nice girl
And we'll buy the paper
My father sighs and says
There is no news in there

For already a whole year my father has been unemployed
In coffee shops the crowds wait for him to speak, for an understanding
My father analyzes for them what the newspaper and the Prime Minister say
It's always good
That there is someone to exchange words with

Moti Amir - Trees

I remember that I already forgot stories that once
You told me or I told you or they told us and we listened together
Trees fall behind our parents' house
Dad is silent in the garden counting wars
Which can't be won
A man against his years rocks against the wind trees against bulldozers
I remember that I already forgot songs that once
You played for me or I played for you or they played for us and we listened together

I didn't go to InDnegev this year but that didn't stop me from going over the line-up and seeing who is playing when and on which stage. It's always curious to see who is opening the day so it was nice to discover that Moti Amir played Friday morning at the fittingly named InDtox stage, which from what I gathered is the more Jewish/spiritual area with Kabbalat Shabbat and rebirthing. One of the founders of the festival has become more religious over the years so it makes sense that the festival will include artists like Moti Amir and not just the usual indie acts you can find on stages in Tel Aviv. In any case, I'm glad I discovered him and this song, which is very fitting for these chilly fall afternoons.

Nadav Dagon - White G

It's the last long weekend of the holiday season and I'll miss being able to completely disconnect from work, doing just what I feel like doing. This is a very fitting choice for Sukkot as the holiday is all about spending time in nature (or a Sukkah on your balcony) and most importantly, hosting and visiting friends (see the mitzvah of Ushpizin). Nadav Dagon's video is a colorful celebration of friendship and freedom with the lovely Danielle Tourgeman on vocals. Chag Sameach!

The Rubber Project - One More Cup of Coffee

When I heard that Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature I couldn't help but feel a warm sense of delight. I get the controversy surrounding the choice, but to me it makes perfect sense to give the award to the songwriter who introduced me to Dylan Thomas and later to Keats, Rimbaud, and Ginsberg. I first took note of the names when I read a short bio on Dylan but I had the urge to delve into their work after hearing this song, and many other songs by Dylan which paint a story with so much depth, emotion, and playful mystery.
There are quite a few famous Hebrew versions to Dylan: Danny Littany's "Blowing in the Wind" and "Girl from the North Country", Aviv Geffen's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and Shlomi Shaban's "Mama, You've Been on My Mind, to name just a few, but I really love this version by the Rubber Project. The group actually made a whole album of Dylan songs which they translated but this song isn't included in it. I love how it stays loyal to the original but adds an extra flair, amping the guitar with so much emotion. And it works so perfectly-I can almost smell the finjan-made black coffee.

Original lyrics:

Your breath is sweet
Your eyes are like two jewels in the sky
Your back is straight your hair is smooth
On the pillow where you lie
But I don't sense affection
No gratitude or love
Your loyalty is not to me
But to the stars above

One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your daddy he's an outlaw
And a wanderer by trade
He'll teach you how to pick and choose
And how to throw the blade
He oversees his kingdom
So no stranger does intrude
His voice it trembles as he calls out
For another plate of food.

One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go
To the valley below.

Your sister sees the future
Like your mama and yourself
You've never learned to read or write
There's no books upon your shelf
And your pleasure knows no limits
Your voice is like a meadowlark
But your heart is like an ocean
Mysterious and dark.

One more cup of coffee for the road
One more cup of coffee 'fore I go.
To the valley below.

Yair Yona - Sword

These days before Yom Kippur are also the days when we remember the Yom Kippur War.

From the Youtube description: 'Sword' is the title track that seals the war chapter in my 1973-War Soundtrack album. It is the fusion point of memories, sounds, visions, blood and death. All of which took place shortly before the ceasefire command.
During the fighting, one cannot stop and relate to the experience, the survival mode controls the body and mind, one cannot think or feel anything. Just survive.
But when the fires are gone, and all tanks are making a u-turn to return home, time becomes very slow. Memories come to the brain, picking with a sharp knife in the open wound tasting the blood, torching the flesh.

http://yairyona.net/sword-en/

http://kipur.ynet.co.il/#!:/gallerypage.aspx

Mark Eliyahu - Through Me

The death of Shimon Peres didn't come as a surprise, and yet it sent a wave of shock throughout the country and the world. I think it hit me when Netanyahu said the next day "Today is the first day the State of Israel has existed without Shimon Peres". I internalized the sentence and realized that we won't hear his thoughtful and carefully chosen words anymore, always said in a confident and comforting tone. We won't see his face light up in wonder at the latest tech innovation, like as he tried a VR set a few months ago when he laid the cornerstone for the Israeli Innovation Center. It's difficult to imagine future chapters in our country's history without Peres by our side, acting as the stern but loving grandfather who has very high expectations from us. On Thursday night the news channels were dedicated to Peres-most were focused on his political past but one of the programs was from a few years ago when he was President. He gathered together a small group of 30 year-olds from different sects of Israeli society, all with promising futures in medicine, politics, hi-tech, science, education and the social sector. He asked them complex questions with a sparkle in his eyes and seemed to be at his happiest: he was bringing together bright people from very different backgrounds and was deeply interested in not only what they had to say but perhaps more importantly, in what they had to say to each other.
I chose this beautiful piece by Mark Eliyahu because there is something so touching and reflective in the tune. It urges you to take a step back and to listen, just as Peres always encouraged us to do.