Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Remembrance Day

Today Israel commemorates the fallen of its wars.

Israeli television is broadcasting programs in the spirit of the day, and all Israeli radio stations are playing songs appropriate to the day.

For me, one song stands out in particular: “Ballad of a Medic” (lyrics: Dan Almagor; music: Effi Netzer). Recorded here by Yehoram Gaon, this song was written for a song festival (and was thus controversial at the time). I still get chills whenever I hear it. The song tells the story of a medic who rescues a wounded soldier in the heat of battle but does not survive to be rescued himself.

Here are the lyrics in Hebrew. And here is a moving English translation.

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