When a career as a lyricist ends up totaling around 1,250 songs, one might think that massive output would dwarf the importance of any individual piece. One would be wrong, of course. Ehud Manor, one of Israel’s greatest songwriters, was capable of producing deeply personal and meaningful words. Such is the case with his 1970 hit “Bashanah Haba’ah” (“Next Year”). Ehud had lost his younger brother two years earlier when Yehuda was killed during the 1968 War of Attrition between Israel and Egypt, and he wrote his lyrics in Yehuda’s memory. What would Ehud love to do if he had his brother back again? Here’s what he wrote:
English Transliteration of Bashana Haba’ah
(https://jr.co.il/bashana-haba’ah.htm#lyrics)
Bashana Haba’ah
Bashana haba’ah
Neishev al hamirpeset
V’nispor tziporim nod’dot
Y’ladim b’chufsha
Y’shacaku tofeset
Bein habayit l’vein hasadot
Od tir’eh od tir’eh
Kama tov yihiyeh
Bashana bashana haba’ah
Anavim adumim
Yav’shilu ad ha’erev
V’yug’shu tson’nim lashulchan
V’ruchot r’dumim
Yis’u el eim haderech
Itonim y’shanim v’anan
Od tir’eh od tir’eh
Kama tov yihiyeh
Bashana bashana haba’ah
Bashana haba’ah
Nifros kapot yadayim
Mul ha’or hanigar halavan
Anafa l’vana
Tfros ka’or k’nafayim
V’hashemesh tizrach b’tochan
Od tir’eh od tir’eh
Kama tov yihiyeh
Bashana bashana haba’ah
English Translation of Bashana Haba’ah
Next Year
Next year we will sit on the porch
and count migrating birds.
Children on vacation will play catch
between the house and the fields.
You will yet see, you will yet see,
how good it will be next year.
Red grapes will ripen till the evening,
and will be served chilled to the table.
And languid winds will carry to the crossroads
old newspapers and a cloud.
You will yet see, you will yet see,
how good it will be next year.
Next year we will spread out our hands
towards the radiant light.
A white heron like a light will spread her wings
and within them the sun will rise.
You will yet see, you will yet see,
how good it will be next year.
The rather melancholic version of the music to the lyrics written by Nurit Hirsch didn’t sit well with the manager of the massively popular Israeli singer Ilanit who had requested the setting. So Manor rewrote the words slightly and Hirsch rewrote the music. Thankfully we have both versions, both upbeat and sad. Here are three performances, all great and all very different from each other.
First the version as updated for the pop singer:
Then the choral version as arranged by the American composer John Leavitt:
And then, because no Jewish song can be discussed without a version by the Maccabeats, here it is:
Whew!
(c) Debi Simons
