Po Qavur haKelev
The Crux of the Matter
words and music by Dani Sanderson
| English translation by Stepan M. Pechkin |
Hebrew text |
| Here the dog is buried*, Here the dog is buried, This is the crux of the matter, No these are the bones of the dog**, But the dog is dead for a long time, Good, that's the crux of the matter. |
Po qavur ha-kelev, Po qavur ha-kelev, Zehu `etzem ha-`inyan, Lo ze `etzem shel ha-kelev, 'val ha-kelev met mi-zman Tov ze `etzem ha-`inyan. |
| If you are searching for a word And it's quite difficult for you to decide, Listen to me and forget what's the talk, For you have nothing to say for now. If you are cooking spaghetti |
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| Here the dog is buried... | |
| If his wife sometimes makes cocktails, Don't say that he is a tailor himself, And if his daughter passes you by sometimes, Don't call him a passenger. If you are climbing up |
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| Here the dog is buried... | |
| If you have seen one sitting Sad and sorry, Sit beside her, it will be alright, For it is surely your own wife. If you have stepped into the stuff That the dog leaves after sometimes, Clean well your shoes And keep with us a fitting distance. |
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| Here the dog is buried... |
* – I don't know wether in English exists an analogue of this Russian saying "That's where the dog is buried", meaning "This is the crux of the matter", but I was glad to found that in Hebrew it does exist in so literally close form.
** – The play is based on two meanings of the word `etsem: a bone(s) and an essence, a matter of fact. Now it's better? :-)