Translated by Hossein Shahidi and May Haddad

1. The songs of
Lul
u
A musical
performanc
e
By:
The Rahbani Brother
s
English edition by
:
Hossein Shahid
i
May Hadda
d
Extracts from Lulu
(translated into English)
1

2. The mad man has the righ
t
to prosecute the world
Airplanes are gre
y
the color of pigeon
s
The bombs explode in silve
r
like the color of the su
n
People in trenche
s
People in bar
s
Freedom is a jok
e
Justice is a li
e
The prison has expande
d
And all verdicts on the fac
e
of the earth are voi
d
2

3. Lulu (singing)
Forget? How?
For
fi
fteen year
s
I was in this worl
d
And I was not in this worl
d
Summers and winters
Were coming and going
The world without m
e
3

4. Forget? Forget
?
Only if I could forge
t
Forget? How?
The prison and its sleepless night
s
Longing for the moo
n
And the moon is behind the windo
w
The moon never asked about me
And did not bring any new
s
And to forget? Forget?
Like everyone, who forgets
?
You were the ones to put me behind
bars, and I screamed: “I am
innocent
”
You left me there and went away
To an evening and a part
y
And you never said
That there are peopl
e
No celebrations
And no freedo
m
4

5. So cold, I could not slee
p
I drew on those wall
s
A big sun, during that night
And sat next to it to warm u
p
Look:
You accused me of murder
And I spent
fi
fteen years in jai
l
And in the end I turned out innocen
t
So you owe me a murder for which
I have paid in advanc
e
I don’t care:
I want to kill one of yo
u
5

6. Lulu, outside the door of her house, singing
Lul
u
There’s a coffee shop at the
crossroads With a hearth, and
fi
re
burning inside i
t
My lover and I would stay there
Covering it with our secret
s
I came and saw inside it
Two little lover
s
Sitting on our seats
Stealing the journey from u
s
O yellow leaves
We’re growing we’re growin
g
The roads …the houses
Grow older and olde
r
The world comes to an en
d
And all that remains is my homeland
That stays a little chil
d
6

7. Like an arrow coming back
From a time journey
I crossed the streets,
no one smiled to me
All my friends have grown older
And all that there was has change
d
They’ve become part of the past
They’ve become the gold of
forgetfulness
Lulu (singing) Remember my lov
e
The snow and the whinnying horse
s
Passing by at the gate of night
And their sound
Would take us on a journe
y
Towards the horizon and
fi
re
I asked you to swear, my love
Do not forget me, my lov
e
When you hear this song
Think of me, my lov
e
7

8. Those were the horserider
s
Snow and whinnying horses
Passing by at the gate of night
Female and male nurses form a circle and begin to dance
to a Russian beat; the set changes to give the appearance
of the valleys of Siberia
.
8

9. The shoe shiner (sings)
I fear that love
Will send us its messenger
s
I fear that tomorrow
We will light up its lantern
s
That the time for talking will pas
s
And that the time for tears will com
e
And that we will go to the Judge of
Lov
e
To complain to him of lov
e
The shoe shiner and his wife sing
:
Shoe shining, shoe shining, shoe
shinin
g
A job, and not a jo
b
9

10. Shoe shining, shoe shining, shoe
shinin
g
There’s toil in it, as well as mone
y
Count the dimes and count the
quarter
s
Shoe shining, shoe shining, shoe
shinin
g
The shoe shine
r
Our capital is a little bit of colo
r
And a box, and a brus
h
And my voice goes here and there
All the time back and fort
h
The shoe shiner’s wif
e
I fear that you might be in love
pondering outside women’s door
s
The shoe shine
r
What a thing to say? Who’s going to
look at a man who is broke
?
We’ve got kids waiting for us
Laugher entertains the
m
They’re waiting at the door
And then they’ll grow up and go awa
y
10

11. The shoe shiner’s wif
e
They need bread, knowledge and
clothes. And they need toys from the
toy vendo
r
The shoe shine
r
Of course…The houe is full of
quarter
s
two ,One, three
The shoe shiner’s wif
e
A quarte
r
The shoe shiner and his wif
e
Roll on dimes
Roll on quarter
s
A loaf covered in shoe polis
h
11

12. Lul
u
You steal me from the sweet depths
of my sleep, I run away to far
distances, but you are ahead of m
e
I walk and earth walks in m
e
Till when will you go after m
e
We said farewell and your
voice went away
And the empty life called m
e
And when I closed the door on
myself
I found you between me and mysel
f
I’m thrown on the sea of
forgetfulness /Sleep and everything
in life has left m
e
Your face never used to leave me / I
try to swim, but your face drowns m
e
Dancing and laughing and partying
the holiday nights with all my friends
around m
e
12

13. And now I look for a new love
With people’s eyes watching over m
e
You show up, I drop the glass
I am the only one in this crowd
who can see yo
u
You steal me from among all of them
And in the snow of the past you burn
m
e
13

14. (She sings) God be with you, our love
The one that is leaving u
s
Love has judged, our love
And we got separate
d
Oh you who stay up all night
Who are waiting for u
s
If you think of lovers tomorrow
Go on remembering u
s
Your voice remains with me at night
It tells me, and I’m all ear
s
I’ll love you until all the night stars
Fall to earth one by on
e
Love came to an end
And the words fell silen
t
The heart closed up
And not a single star fell to eart
h
What
fl
ows as words
14

15. Stays as word
s
Everything comes to an end
Even dream
s
And days wipe
away day
s
15

16. Lul
u
We are returning Oh love
We are returnin
g
Oh
fl
ower of the weak peopl
e
We are returning Oh love
At love’s hom
e
To the
fi
re of love
We are returnin
g
We say farewell to tim
e
And we go so that time
Forgetting us in the land of the
forgotte
n
We say we are going
And we are returnin
g
To the house of love
And we know no
t
You are so conceited love
Oh conceited love
Oh my lov
e
Oh
fl
ower on the wall
We are the lover
s
We will always be lover
s
And we we live our night
s
16

17. Lul
u
They waited for us
so long, so long
At Darina Statio
n
We didn’t know their name
s
And they didn’t know our
s
At Darina Statio
n
Night had fallen
and the passengers were waiting
One of them a digni
fi
ed gir
l
And there was this boy, telling her
about the summer and the moo
n
And she would tell him she was
engage
d
Oh, breeze, take u
s
Oh, breeze, bring us
To Darina Statio
n
The car was small
And there was darkness and jealous
y
Lovers leaving two by two
No one knew where t
o
17

18. Sleepless Nights (We had a Mill)
Singing: Fairuz
Lyrics and music by the Rahbani Brothers
Lyrics were translated into English by May Haddad and Hossein
Shahidi – 2014 (as part of translating Lulu, the musical
performance by the Rahbani Brothers)
***
How beautiful were the nights
Filled with the love that awaits us.
And you would come to meet me
Water roaring and the night
Would take us to faraway places.
We had a mill by the water spring
With
fi
elds in front of it,
18

19. that were planted with shade.
My Grandfather would grind
Wheat
fl
our and sleepless nights
For the whole neighborhood.
And people would stay in these squares
Some with bags, some with carriages
Coming and going,
Songs overwhelm the road.
Ah, sleepless nights
Ah, sweet thoughts on my mind
We would sing Ah,
We would sing Ah,
Along the roads…
Those days passed
And little by little
The mill fell silent
by the shoulder of the stream.
And my Grandfather became
The miller of memories
Milling the sun and the shade.
Ah, sleepless nights
Ah, sweet thoughts on my mind
We would sing Ah,
We would sing Ah,
Along the roads…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL0ltjRb-K4
19

20. Lul
u
The party’s ove
r
Take me over to your place,
Grandpa
The mad man has the right
to prosecute the worl
d
Airplanes are gre
y
the color of pigeon
s
The bombs explode in silve
r
like the color of the su
n
People in trenches
people in bars
Justice is a li
e
Freedom is a jok
e
The prison has been expande
d
And all verdicts on the face
of the earth are voi
d
How nice that the sun is risin
g
Let’s drink to your health,
Grandpa
Everyon
e
Welcom
e
You’ve brightened the hous
e
The red candle laughs at the
fi
r
e
O night that
fl
ew awa
y
O dreams that
fl
ew awa
y
20

21. E Viva E Viva E Viva
21

22. 22