Probably one of the best lyrical retakes of the the 1948 Palestinian
refugee exodus yet it's still applicable to anyone who feels detached
from a literal or figurative home. Marcel tells of how deep his
connection is to the land and yet how he is denied the sense of
belonging because of his passport. He ends the song with a declaration
that his nationality is now dependent on the kindness of others and that
his passport is meaningless.
Analysis:
Palestinians are a people with no country. Most of them don't have a real passport, they have a "travel document" that attaches them to a whichever country has given them temporary residency status. Very few are actually allowed to travel into the self governing parts of Palestine. Having no place to legally call home in this world is one of the few things that I've seen that are worst then poverty.
This song illustrates how for many Palestinians their passports no longer reflect who they are. Despite how rooted in the land the song describes the refugee he is still removed from it by the passport. He appeals to his superiors "gentlemen" but ends the song with no resolution, just like refugee situation remains today.
***
Analysis:
Palestinians are a people with no country. Most of them don't have a real passport, they have a "travel document" that attaches them to a whichever country has given them temporary residency status. Very few are actually allowed to travel into the self governing parts of Palestine. Having no place to legally call home in this world is one of the few things that I've seen that are worst then poverty.
This song illustrates how for many Palestinians their passports no longer reflect who they are. Despite how rooted in the land the song describes the refugee he is still removed from it by the passport. He appeals to his superiors "gentlemen" but ends the song with no resolution, just like refugee situation remains today.
***
They did not recognize me in the shadows
That suck away my color in this Passport
And to them my wound was an exhibit
For a tourist Who loves to collect photographs
That suck away my color in this Passport
And to them my wound was an exhibit
For a tourist Who loves to collect photographs
They did not recognize me,
Ah . . . Don't leave
The palm of my hand without the sun
Because the trees recognize me
All the songs of the rain recognize me
The palm of my hand without the sun
Because the trees recognize me
All the songs of the rain recognize me
* Repeating previous line*
Don't leave me pale like the moon!
*****
All the birds that followed my palm
To the door of the distant airport
To the door of the distant airport
* Repeating previous line
All the wheatfields
All the prisons
All the white tombstones
All the barbed boundaries
All the waving handkerchiefs
All the eyes
All the wheatfields
All the prisons
All the white tombstones
All the barbed boundaries
All the waving handkerchiefs
All the eyes
* Repeating previous line*
were with me,
But they... dropped them from my passport!!
were with me,
But they... dropped them from my passport!!
*****
Stripped of my name and identity?
On a soil I nourished with my own hands?
On a soil I nourished with my own hands?
*Repeating previous line*
Today Job cried out
Filling the sky:
Don't make an example of me again!
Oh, gentlemen, Prophets,
Don't ask the trees for their names
Don't ask the valleys who their mother is
From my forehead bursts the sword of light
And from my hand springs the water of the river
Today Job cried out
Filling the sky:
Don't make an example of me again!
Oh, gentlemen, Prophets,
Don't ask the trees for their names
Don't ask the valleys who their mother is
From my forehead bursts the sword of light
And from my hand springs the water of the river
*Repeating previous lines*
All the hearts of the people are my identity
So take away my passport!
All the hearts of the people are my identity
So take away my passport!
