The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #9339   Message #60298
Posted By: Joe Offer
25-Feb-99 - 09:18 PM
Thread Name: Lyrics/Chords ADD:Jerusalem of Gold (Naomi Shemer)
Subject: Lyr Add: JERUSALEM OF GOLD
Well, I found the English lyrics. Click here for the MIDI. Another link (click here) that may be interesting, although the Hebrew lyrics may be incomplete.

I also found a story about the song:
Naomi Shemer's song Yerushalayim Shel Zahav (Jerusalem of Gold) was chosen as Israel's "Song of the Jubilee" on Independence Day. In a survey conducted jointly by the Reshet Gimmel radio station, Channel One television and the Yediot Aharonot newspaper, Shemer's 1967 hit was selected as the most popular song of Israel's first fifty years.
Naomi Shemer appeared on television as the top ten songs were announced and played for viewers and listeners all over Israel. She recalled how Jerusalem mayor, Teddy Kollek, had asked for new Jerusalem-related songs to be written for the annual Hebrew song festival to be held in Jerusalem in 1967. It was during the months just before the Six Day War when songwriter Shemer travelled to the divided city for inspiration. She remembered a legend of Rabbi Akiva giving a gift of gold and copper to his wife, and the song began to take hold. An unknown singer, Shuli Natan, was asked to perform the song at the festival, and it was an immediate hit.
Just months later the war broke out, and for the first time the city of Jerusalem was united under Israeli rule. The verses of "Jerusalem of Gold" were updated to reflect the change, and the song became part of Israel's history.

Jerusalem of Gold

by Naomi Shemer