Pop Singers (1996)
(This song opens with a scene of vendors plying their wares in a public street)
Cakes, cakes. We have dishes, we have glasses, we have table cloths. Perfumes, gifts.
Kidney-sized Fava beans. Shoeshine, shoeshine. Watermelons in slices.
Fortune teller, fortune teller, I'll see your fortune. Boiled chick peas.
Lottery, tomorrow's the drawing. Pepsi, bottled water, cold beverages.
Pop singers, pop singers
To the left and to the right
All packed up and cleared at customs
By the dozen and by the slice
Pop singers, pop singers
The newest and prettiest models
And they're on sale, liquidation
But they all come in the same color (1)
They're charging forth like waves of the sea
With their voices they're splitting rocks
On the wavelengths of radios
And on the channels of televisions
They're running around with mouths wide open
Yelling from dawn till dusk
And raising their microphones
In the direction of the skies
Some with heads and some without (2)
And they keep singing even if you say: ENOUGH
They're all cheap and marginal but where is the ear of the connoisseur
Where is the ear of the connoisseur, where is the ear of the connoisseur
Pop singers, pop singers
Ready to go, loaded with options
Square ones, rectangular ones
By the dozen and by the slice
Pop singers, pop singers
The finest and best brands
Reduced prices, big sale
But everything comes in the same color
Cheap songs, novelty songs
All we hear are novelty songs
Wham bam, snap and pop, bump and grind, move and groove
All day long, novelty songs
I'd rather hear the cackling of fowl
It's like we're sitting in a chicken coop
And once in ten years a rooster comes along
With each new day a brand new singer
Every day is a holiday in Lebanon
There are now more singers than there are listeners
The entertainers outnumber the audience
(Here the singer of this song addresses a hypothetical pop singer)
"I wish you had taken a voice lesson or two
Before you decided to liberate your voice
You darling you
Put yourself in my place (3)
This thing that emanates from you as an AH (4)
Reaches me as an OUCH
Oh my ears, oh my head
Look how I grind my teeth"
Pop singers, pop singers
Straight from the dealership and under warranty
Fabricated and programmed
To best serve the public
Pop singers, pop singers
In restaurants and in hotels
Clearance, sale
But all items in the same color
One video clip following another
They're spreading like the flu
Shut your eye and open it
You'll find that a new entertainer has sprouted
The nation is now filled with stars
And in the sky there are only clouds
Say "my goodness", brothers
This can only happen in Lebanon
On tape they sound like one thing
In concert they sound like something else
If they get the "ya leil" right (5)
The "ya ein" goes astray
If they manage to hit the "ya leil"
They'll mess up the "ya ein"
(Here the singer of this song unleashes a "ya ein" that goes wildly astray,
in mock of the pop singers described herein, none of whom can sing two
good notes in a row. Following the wayward "ya ein" a person complements
the singer and says: "Beautiful", and the singer replies: "Thank you, you're
very kind")
Pop singers, pop singers (6)
Fresh and hot, right out of the oven
Pop singers, pop singers
Upside down, they glow in the dark
Somebody give me two Aspirins
Oh brother, pop singers
Obliged, not obliging
They're all tied-up, they're moist
It's like they've swallowed mothballs
Pop singers, double-glazed
Pop singers, refreshments
Get up and go back home
(1) In addition to its common meaning, the term "color" also refers to musical genre.
For instance, an interviewer would ask an artist why he or she chose a particular "color"
of music for themselves. In the context of this song, the term is used to describe
the fact that all songs on the radio share the same basic elements because producers
are afraid of straying from a formula which yields a hit. The result is unabashed copying,
and songs that sound the same in tempo, arrangement and lyrical content.
(2) "Some with heads and some without" is a local saying that describes a mixed, unruly
crowd of considerable size.
(3) "In my place" here means: In my shoes.
(4) "AH" is used to denote a beautiful-sounding note.
(5) The two most often repeated phrases in Arabic singing are, and have always been,
and probably always will be "ya leil" and "ya ein". "Ya" is a form of calling, "leil" is
night, "ein" is eye. "Oh night, oh my eye" is often repeated with the singer
improvising and trying different ways of singing it.
(6) All the adjectives that follow are variations on the spelling of "pop singers", which, incidentally, in Arabic
is combined into one word, "Muterbeen". The varaiations are, as you would suspect, funny and somewhat
derogatory.