SHIRAT HASTICKER
HaDag Nachash
Ruach 5765

Words by David Grossman/Music by HaDag Nachash
Licensed by courtesy of Anana Ltd. © 2004 Anana Ltd.

This unusual song, which took Israel by storm to become a chart-topping hit, is based on the words of bumper stickers. They were collected and transformed into poetry by David Grossman, an Israel Prize winning author and leftist social commentator. Far from simply expressing liberal sentiment, the song holds up a mirror to an array of social, cultural, and political issues using the original divisive, ironic, humorous, simplistic, and even shocking words with which Israelis spoke their minds through the stickers. This complex weave of authentic, insider Israeli expressions is produced by HaDag Nachash (Snakefish), one of Israel’s leading rock/hip-hop bands. The controversial song, each line of which needs unpacking to be fully understood by someone who has not lived in or followed events in Israel closely, is a window into the kaleidoscopic and intense experience of life in Israel. RuachCD.com contains not only the words translated in English, but also background to the meaning, context, and themes of the song’s words.

- Yonatan Glaser
ARZA/URJ Shaliach

More Info on Shirat Hasticker Lyrics
See HaDag Nachash live!

A whole generation demands peace
Let the IDF win
A strong people makes peace
Let the IDF take them down
No peace with Arabs
Don’t give them guns
There is no service like combat service, bro'
Draft for all [or] exemption for all
There is no despair in the world
Judea, Samaria and Gaza are here! [within the Green Line]
Na, Nah, Nahman, the faithful
No Fear, the Messiah’s in town
No Arabs, no terror attacks
The Supreme Court endangers Jews
The people are with the Golan
The people are for [population] transfer
Test in Yarka [sticker of a vehicle inspection garage in the village of Yarka]
Friend, you are missed
The Holy One, blessed be He, we vote for [choose] You
Direct elections [for prime minister] are bad
The Holy One, blessed be He, we are your zealots
Death to zealots [or "death to the jealous" in cases where the sticker appears on very old cars]

CHORUS: How much evil can you swallow?
Father have mercy, Father have mercy
They call me Nachman and I stammer
How much evil can you swallow?
Father have mercy, Father have mercy
Thank God I’m breathing

A State based on halacha is no State at all
He who is born wins
Long live the Messiah
I trust the peace of Sharon
Hebron – from time immemorial and forever
He who is not born loses
Hebron, city of the Fathers
Peace through Transfer
Kahane was right
CNN lies
We need a strong leader
Peace please, thank you for security
We have no children for needless wars
The Left helps the Arabs
Bibi is good for the Jews
Oslo criminals [should be brought] to justice
We here, they [the Arabs] there
You do not forsake brothers
Uprooting the settlements divides the people
Death to traitors
Let the animals live
Death to values

CHORUS