I Love The Beatles
Like many others of my generation (yes, I'm a 60's child) I love the Beatles. Love singing out loud to their songs on the radio, and love the words to their songs. So obviously I went and bought the new Paul McCartney CD. I wasn't disappointed. Definitely a classic for those of you who enjoy listening to the Beatles. I particularly loved the last track which has no lyrics, but has a great catchy tune (I wish I could find a link to it somewhere).
As everyone knows The Beatles have been famous worldwide, and this has not precluded Israel. Maybe some of you wonder whether we still call them "Beatles" in Israel. Well, no. They're called "Khipooshiyot" in Hebrew. One band member would be referred to as "khipooshit" (a beatle).
When you grow up listening to Israeli radio you need to be quite attentive to catch on to the name of the bands or you may grow up feeling quite confused about pop culture. For the longest time I've been wondering who on earth would have called their band "Tarakh." It made absolutely no sense. I think it was two decades later that I realised this was the literal translation to the popular band - Soft Cell (Ta = cell in Hebrew; Rakh = soft in Hebrew).
Then there was "mo'adon tarbut" which again made no sense in Hebrew, because these two words combined together are meaningless. The mystery was resolved when I saw the music video with Boy George wearing a shirt that actually said "mo'adon tarbut" in Hebrew. Yes, mo'adon tarbut is indeed Culture Club (mo'adon = club in Hebrew; tarbut = culture).
So those of you who wonder why Israelis are so ignorant about pop culture - it's because we have to remember twice as much names than the average English speaker does (the English and the Hebrew names of all popular bands), PLUS our own Israeli popular culture.
And just as I was thankful that Madonna's name has no translation, I find out that she does indeed have a Hebrew name - Ester !
As everyone knows The Beatles have been famous worldwide, and this has not precluded Israel. Maybe some of you wonder whether we still call them "Beatles" in Israel. Well, no. They're called "Khipooshiyot" in Hebrew. One band member would be referred to as "khipooshit" (a beatle).
When you grow up listening to Israeli radio you need to be quite attentive to catch on to the name of the bands or you may grow up feeling quite confused about pop culture. For the longest time I've been wondering who on earth would have called their band "Tarakh." It made absolutely no sense. I think it was two decades later that I realised this was the literal translation to the popular band - Soft Cell (Ta = cell in Hebrew; Rakh = soft in Hebrew).
Then there was "mo'adon tarbut" which again made no sense in Hebrew, because these two words combined together are meaningless. The mystery was resolved when I saw the music video with Boy George wearing a shirt that actually said "mo'adon tarbut" in Hebrew. Yes, mo'adon tarbut is indeed Culture Club (mo'adon = club in Hebrew; tarbut = culture).
So those of you who wonder why Israelis are so ignorant about pop culture - it's because we have to remember twice as much names than the average English speaker does (the English and the Hebrew names of all popular bands), PLUS our own Israeli popular culture.
And just as I was thankful that Madonna's name has no translation, I find out that she does indeed have a Hebrew name - Ester !
posted at
9/26/2005 08:52:00 AM
2 Comments:
You had Soft Cell in Israel? My condolences.
Uh oh, you mentioned Boy George. Now I got Culture Club stuck in my head. Oh no.
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
By
The Zombieslayer, at 11:23 PM, September 26, 2005
I have always been puzzled by the Beatles, wondering what people can possibly see in a no-talent boring group of pseudo-musicians. Certain songs are fair, offering some decent melodies and some lyrics that are not nonsense, but most of their stuff is childish, simplistic and dull. I guess being a child of the 30s doesn't make it any easier. "I wanna hold your hand" indeed.
mtrain
By
Anonymous, at 5:00 AM, September 27, 2005
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