This short post is on a song which everybody wrongly attributes to Ziad Rahbani (Fayrouz’s son) – as you can see from the enormous picture of him on the video – but which is apparently actually by one of the Bandali brothers, whose voices are apparently very similar to Ziad’s. I’ll let you guess what the song is about based on the smoky clouds in the video and the fairly on-the-nose lyrics.
The lyrics are fairly repetitive, so I’ve only translated lines which are repeated the first time they come up.
اهلا بالشباب الطيبة اهلا
2ahlan bishshabaab éTTayybe 2ahlan
It’s so good to see you guys…
اهلا بالشباب الطيبة – a set phrase you’ll probably hear quite a bit if you ever hang out with Syrian or Lebanse guys
هيدي خيي القصة طوييييلة
haydi khayyi l2éSSa Tawiiiiiiile
This story, man, it’s a really long one…
خيي – a Lebanese/Syrian form of ‘bro’, with various other Syrian equivalents (خيو khayyo is the one that leaps to mind)
اي دورها خيي
ee dawwéra khayyi
Pass it round, man
دورها – pass it round (fem probably because it’s سيكارة sigara). One of the various meanings of dawwar (including ‘turn over’ and ‘turn around’, and occasionally ‘turn on’), from دور door ‘turn’.
دورها دور دور وعطيني شحطة
dawwérha dawwer dawwer w@3Tiini sha7Ta
Pass it round, pass it round, let me have a drag
شحطة – a noun of instance from شحط (sha7aT yésh7oT sha7@T) ‘drag’, literally meaning ‘a drag’ and lining up nicely with the English as a result (since we also say ‘a drag on a cigarette’)
قبل ما تجي تجي تجينا الشرطة
2abel ma téji téji téjiina shshérTa
Before the police come and get us
تجي is subjunctive because of 2abel ma, of course. In 3aamiyye 2éja normally takes a direct object – téjiina = come to us. Feminine agreeing with شرطة.
دورها دور دور
dawwérha dawwer dawwer
Pass it round, pass it round
دورها دور دور
dawwérha dawwer dawwer
Pass it round, pass it round
ما بدي اصحى
maa baddi 2éS7a
I don’t want to wake up
صحى Sé7i yéS7a means both ‘wake up’ and ‘sober up’.
ناس بتحكيني قاسي
naas @bté7kiini 2aasi
People talk to me harshly…
بتحكي – feminine agreeing with naas. For Damascenes حكى can’t take a direct object like this (بتحكيلي bté7kiili with a la- pronoun) but it’s normal in lots of places in Syria as well as in Lebanon.
قاسي – literally ‘hard, solid’, but used to describe people in the sense of ‘harsh, strict, mean’.
اه يا قاسي
aah ya 2aasi
Ah, you cruel person!
ناس بتحكيني فصحى
naas @bté7kiini fuS7a
People speak to me in fuSHa…
قلوب الصفحة
2loob éSSéf7a
Turn the page!
قلوب – imperative of قلب ‘turn over’
فتل راسي يا راسي
fatal raasi yaa raasi
My head’s spinning… oh, my head!
فتل fatal yéftol ‘spin’, both intransitive and transitive. fatal raasi
مش رح بالحكي اصحى
mésh ra7 bil7aki 2éS7a
Talking isn’t going to make me sober
رح اصحى – I’ll wake up, I’ll get sober – future negated with مش here instead of ما
بالحكي – literally ‘by talking’.
قاسي والزمن قاسي ضاعت الفرحة
2aasi w@zzaman 2aasi Daa3t élfar7a
Harsh, and the times are harsh, there’s no joy left
الزمن – usually ‘the times’ (note the difference from زمان zamaan which has a lot more uses)
ضاعت الفرحة – literally ‘joy has got lost’. This is a sort of stereotyped phrase. The e of -et has been dropped as you can see.
يا حبيبي شفطة بتكفيني
yaa 7abiibi shafTa btékfiini
One draw’ll be enough
حبيبي – there is absolutely no way you don’t already know this word from every single Arab pop song ever. As you may be aware, in lots of Arabic-speaking countries it’s commonly used between friends (although you can certainly overuse it in this context).
شفطة – another word for ‘drag [on a cigarette]’. This one’s another noun of instance, this time from شفط shafaT yéshfoT ‘suck on’, ‘take a draw on’.
بتكفيني – literally ‘will suffice me’, ‘will be enough for me’. It’s probably more common in 3aamiyye to hear the form II bitkaffi here (and in fact I think that’s the only form used in the southern Levant),
ضيعني ضيع ضيع حالي نسيني
Dayyé3ni Dayye3 Dayye3 7aali nassiini
Make me zone out, make me forget everything
ضيع – causative of ضاع ‘get lost’, in this case literally ‘make me get lost’. ضايع here though means something like staring into space, zoned out, or stoned.
حالي نسيني – under normal circumstances would be nassiini 7aali, with the form II causative of nési yénsa nasy (‘forget’), nassa. ناسي حالي is an idiom (‘forgotten myself’) which again means ‘out of it’, ‘not with it’ etc.
ديرني ديرني تنحكي صيني
dayyérni dayyérni ta-né7ki Siini
Spin me round, spin me round, until we’re speaking Chinese
ديّر – causative of daar yduur ‘turn’
تنحكي ta-né7ki – ta– is a Lebanese/Palestinian equivalent to لـ, probably a shortening of 7atta.
مشان شو ما مشان شي
méshaan shu? maa méshaan shi
Why? No reason…
مشان شو؟ – literally ‘for what’. The way he pronounces it is supposed to sound like Chinese.
ما مشان شي – literally ‘not for anything’, i.e. for no reason, negated with ما here (in Syrian مو also works). This is a common expression meaning ‘oh, no reason’ or ‘not for any real reason’.
يلعن هالعيشة
yél3an hal3iishe
Screw this life
يلعن – literally ‘let Him curse’, i.e. God
هلعيشة – ‘this life’, ‘this way of living’ (noun of instance from عاش يعيش ‘live’)
ديرني دير دير هاي احسن فرصة
dayyérni dayyer dayyer hayy 2a7san férSa
Spin me round, spin me round, this is our best opportunity
هي – ‘this is’, ‘here is’ to present something (not ‘this’ as in the demonstrative pronoun
شوف ملا جرصة
shuuf malla jérSa
See, there’s nothing wrong with it…
ملا – another Lebanese variant on the maan- negative (maanha, maalha, mannha, mallha are all alternatives with the latter two more Lebanese).
جرصة – something you become infamous for, a scandal, a bad act etc