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Origins: Hava Nagila

23 Apr 00 - 04:36 PM (#216648)
Subject: Alternative-Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Nuiz@aol.com

Years ago I heard alternative lyrics to Hava Nagila. One verse went like this:
    Come to the valley
    Run through the valley
    Harvest is over
    Dance, everybody, dance.
Can anyone furnish the rest of the lyrics? I really have searched high and low on the net. Would appreciate an email if you can find a web page. Thx for any help.
Messages from multiple threads combined.
-Joe Offer-


23 Apr 00 - 06:05 PM (#216680)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVA NAGILA (trad. Israeli)
From: Joe Offer

Well, Here are the Hebrew lyrics and a recording.


HAVA NAGILA
( Israeli folk song)

Hava nagila, hava
nagila, hava,
nagila venis mecha.
Hava nagila, hava
nagila, hava,
nagila venis mecha.
Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.

Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.
Uru, uru achim,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim
uru achim
belev sameach.
^^

Click to play


Rise Up Singing offers this translation:
Let us rejoice and be happy
Awaken brothers and sisters with a happy heart.
I wasn't able to find an English version that could be sung.
-Joe Offer-


23 Apr 00 - 06:26 PM (#216692)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVA NAGILA (English version)
From: Jon Freeman

I hope I'm thinking of the right tune. If so, here are some English words from Singing Together Summer 1974(BBC Schools Radio):

Out in the meadow
Music is playing
People are dancing
They Circle about.
Arms linked with one another
They dance the Hora
And while they dance merrily shout

Come do the hora now
Watch and we'll show you how
Step hop and once again
See how it is done.
Hear how we keep the beat
Stepping with lively feet
Come join our circle now
Come dance with your friends

Now that were together
Everyone steps a little faster
Evryone hops a little faster
See how the circle's turning faster
See how the circle's turning faster
How it's done
Rest everyone
We've danced the hora joyfully ^^

Jon


23 Apr 00 - 06:33 PM (#216698)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Jon Freeman

I hadn't noticed Joe had given a MIDI, I was thinking of the right tune.

Jon


23 Apr 00 - 09:38 PM (#216773)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Susan of DT

Come to the valley
Run thru the clover
Harvest is over
Dance, everyone, dance

Dance were the corn was high
Under a golden sky
Dance where the wine was born
Dance, everyone, dance
^^
go from Hebrew to English and back again for a reasonable length song.


24 Apr 00 - 01:33 AM (#216868)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Mark Cohen

If I'm not mistaken, and I often am, Connie Francis recorded an English version of this, back in the 50s. I can ask my mom if she still has the record.

Aloha,
Mark


24 Apr 00 - 09:52 AM (#216933)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Ditchdweller

I seem to remember some Jewish comedienne/actress come up with; "Hava Negela, Have two Negelas Have three Negelas, They're pretty cheap" Sapper


24 Apr 00 - 08:07 PM (#217314)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Nuiz

Your answers are great--all of them. I got what I was looking for--gee, you're all so smart!

Muchas thankus


24 Apr 00 - 11:33 PM (#217430)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Mark Cohen

Sapper, that was on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, circa 1968, and the singer was JoAnne Worley. I remember the last line as "They're very small." What a show that was -- thanks for the memory!

Aloha,
Mark


25 Apr 00 - 11:27 AM (#217647)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVA NAGILA (French version)
From: GUEST,Mrr

Les Compagnons de la Chanson also do a great version in French (and rather hilarious French-accented Hebrew). The Hebrew lyrics are above; here are the French (and until someone teaches me how to do accents in HTML, I'll just ignore them, sorry):
    Dansons, car dans les granges
    Le ble se range
    C'est le dernier jour des mouissons!
    Dansons, sur cette terre, verte et fiere, qui n'oublie pas de nos sillons! (line unclear)
    Dansons sans plus penser
    Au bal qu'on c'est donne
    Pour faire lever le grain
    Qu'on aura demain!
    Dansons pour oublier
    Sous le ciel etoile
    Nos peines et nos peurs
    Que le grain demeure!
    Lai, lai, lai lai lai lai
    Et ma joie devient complete
    Pres de toi, le temps s'arrete
    Dans tes bras je perd la tete
    Et tout prend un air de fete
    Serre-moi jusqu'au jour
    Dansons, dansons mon amour!

    Vague translation:
    Let's dance, for in the silos, wheat is piling up, it's the last day of the harvest! Let's dance, on this earth, green and proud, which doesn't forget a single furrow! Let's dance without thinking any more about the party we're having, to raise the grain we'll have tomorrow! Let's dance to forget, under starry skies, our labors and fears, let there be nothing but grain! (or possibly There is nothing left but grain!) La, la, la la la la, And my joy is completed, near you time stops, in your arms I lose my mind, and everything becomes like a celebration! Hold me tight until day! Let's dance, let's dance my love!

I checked this song with my Israeli cousin-in-law and he said it was a pretty good gloss of the original...


25 Apr 00 - 11:27 PM (#218073)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: pastorpest

A zooologist travelled to Cuba to study lizards. To his surprise he discovered a strange new lizard near the capital. In fact in several places around the capital he saw members of this unexpected spieces. He took photographs and when he returned home to his university he excitedly showed colleagues his photographs of this previously unknown lizard.

His colleagues laughed and said, "Oh that! It's just the Havana Gila."

Sorry for the bad pun: I could not resist.


17 Jul 00 - 09:17 PM (#259663)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVA NAGILA (French version)
From: Mrrzy

HAVA NAGILA (Dansons, mon amour)

French lyrics recorded by Les Compagnons de la Chanson, recalled by Mrrzy

(They sing the verses in Hebrew too, very French, don't pronounce any H's; but all I'm posting here is the translation)

Dansons car dans les granges
Le blé se range
C'est le dernier jour des mouissons!
Dansons sur cette terre
Verte et fière
Qui reviendra de nos sillons!
Dansons sans plus penser
Au bal qu'on s'est donné
Pour faire lever le grain
Qu'on aura demain!
Dansons pour oublier
Sous le ciel étoilé
Nos peines et nos peurs!
Que le grain demeure!
Lai, lai, lai lai lai lai
Et ma joie devient complète
Près de toi le temps s'arrête
Dans tes bras je perds la tête
Et tout prend un air de fête!
Serre-moi! Jusqu'au jour!
Dansons, dansons mon amour!


17 Jul 00 - 09:20 PM (#259665)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: French Lyrics to Hava Nagila
From: Mrrzy

I ran this translation by my Israeli cousin-in-law, and every time I said Let's Dance (for whatever reason - to raise the grain, to celebrate the harvest, to honor the earth...) he agreed that it was a good translation of the phrase Hava Nagila...

Also, this is in response to the French Lyrics thread.


18 Jul 00 - 12:57 AM (#259800)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: French Lyrics to Hava Nagila
From: Mark Cohen

Thanks, Mrrzy, it's absolutely wonderful! I will learn it forthwith. (Maybe somebody can fix the accents--it took me a few seconds to figure out what happened.)

Of course, who can forget JoAnne Worley on Laugh-In, singing:

Hava nagila, have two nagilas
Have three nagilas, they're very small

Aloha,
Mark


16 Dec 02 - 04:58 PM (#848386)
Subject: Lyr Add: HAVA NAGILAH
From: BUTTERFLY

Dear All,

I wonder if anyone out there can translate the words of "Hava Nagilah" into English, either from direct knowledge of Hebrew (or is it Yiddish?) or otherwise. I have shown the words below, which I got from a CD-ROM.

HAVA NAGILAH

Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Ha-vah Na-gi-lah,
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Ha-vah Na-gi-lah,
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne nah,
Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne nah,
Vay-nis-m' chah.
U-ru, U-ru, a-chim,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim. b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim! U-ru a-chim!
B'-lev sa-me-ach.

Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Ha-vah Na-gi-lah,
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Ha-vah Na-gi-lah,
Ha-vah Na-gi-lah, Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne nah,
Vay-nis-m' chah.
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne-nah,
Ha-vah n'-ra-ne nah,
Vay-nis-m' chah.
U-ru, U-ru, a-chim,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim, b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim. b'-lev sa-me-ach,
U-ru a-chim! U-ru a-chim!
B'-lev sa-me-ach.


16 Dec 02 - 05:09 PM (#848394)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: artbrooks

From Zemerl:

Dance where the wheat grows high, under a golden sky, dance where the wine was born. Dance, everyone dance. Whirl and turn about, lift up your arms and shout, join hands and kick along. Dance, everyone . . .

This is obviously not a singable translation either.


16 Dec 02 - 05:28 PM (#848411)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: BUTTERFLY

Dear All,

I should have taken the trouble to look at past postings before asking for translation of Hava Nagilah, but in any case I am grateful for such a quick reply from Zemerl. It seems then that "Hava Nagilah" means "Let's Dance" - wasn't there a song of that name (was it by Chris Montez?).

Regarding Mark Cohen's posting on 18th July 2000 below, Fred Wedlock also did this on an album although as all his songs were originally by others, I presume he heard Jo-Ann Worley or someone else sing it. Does anyone know what happened to Jo-Ann Worley? You see some of the ex-Laugh In People from time to time, especially Goldie Hawn, in films, etc, but I can remember seeing Henry Gibson, Artie Johnson, Lily Tomalin and Dick Rowan. Dan Rowan died some years back.

wSubject: RE: Lyr Add: French Lyrics to Hava Nagila
From: Mark Cohen - PM
Date: 18 Jul 00 - 12:57 AM

Thanks, Mrrzy, it's absolutely wonderful! I will learn it forthwith. (Maybe somebody can fix the accents--it took me a few seconds to figure out what happened.)

Of course, who can forget JoAnne Worley on Laugh-In, singing:

Hava nagila, have two nagilas
Have three nagilas, they're very small


16 Dec 02 - 06:28 PM (#848446)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Joe Offer

I saw a book once about the man who wrote "Hava Nagila." I should have bought the book, but my budget got the better of me.
I had alwasy thought of the song as traditional, but now I'm wondering about authorship. http://www.hebrewsongs.com says the tune is traditional Hassidic, but the lyrics were written by Mosheh Nathanson and transcribed by Abraham Zevi Idelsohn. I checked several sources, but couldn't find definitive information about the origin of this song. Can anybody help?
-Joe Offer-


17 Dec 02 - 05:47 AM (#848747)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Hrothgar

Additions to above, from the singing of Ray Gurney, at the Folk Centre in Brisbane, mid-60s:

Over the valley
Voices are singing,
Bells are a-ringing,
Dance, everyone, dance!
Come to the valley,
Run to the valley,
Harvest is over,
Dance, everyone, dance!

Dance where the corn was high
Under a golden sky,
Dance where the wine was born,
Dance, everyone, dance!

Twirl and twirl about,
Lift up your arms and shout
...................
Dance, everyone, dance!

Lift your feet,
Heart will follow,
Lift your voice
Fill the hollow
Spread your wings
Like a swallow.
Dance, dance, everybody, dance!

Have to talk to a couple of the old heads around the place who might remember more ...


11 Jan 03 - 09:47 PM (#864886)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Hrothgar

I knew I could find somebody!

From Anne Infante's memory:

Down in the valley
Voices are singing
Bells are a-ringing
Dance, everyone, dance!

Come through the valley
Run through the valley
Harvest is over
Dance, everyone, dance!

Dance where the corn was high
Under a golden sky
Dance where the wine was born
Dance, everyone, dance!

Twirl and twirl about
Lift up your arms and shout
Join hands skip along
Dance, everyone, dance!

Turn, turn,
Turn right, hold tight
Lift your feet, the heart will follow
Lift your voice, fill the hollow,
Spread your wings like a swallow
Fly away, greet the day
Dance, dance, everybody, dance!


I have a couple of small disagrements with her, as shown in the fragment above.


11 Jan 03 - 11:03 PM (#864927)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Steve Latimer

And how can we forget Bob's "Talkin' Hava Nagila Blues"?


12 Jan 03 - 09:45 PM (#865566)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Art Thieme

I believe I posted in another thread that an old Sioux Indian told me that this song was a rain dance in his part of the American west. As everyone danced they would toss live lizards under the dancer's feet---and sing---loudly,   "Hop on a gila, hop on a gila, hop on a gila..."

This is true.

Art Thieme


12 Jan 03 - 09:47 PM (#865569)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Art Thieme

It did make for a certain amount of moisture. ;-)

Art


12 Jan 03 - 10:07 PM (#865586)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Peter Kasin

We used to sing that in folk dance class. It goes:

Hava, nagila hava, nagila hava, nagila uhhhh,uh,uh,uhhhh.

la, da, ladeeda,daaaaa
la da, la dee da daaa
da, da, dee da daaaaaa, daaaa, da, da da!   

*BG*


13 Jan 03 - 10:02 AM (#865903)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: An Pluiméir Ceolmhar

It's really a Palestinian song:

"Have a narguileh?"

- "No thanks, I prefer to smoke my own."


10 Apr 03 - 04:36 PM (#930640)
Subject: RE: Origins: Hava Nagila - - How old?
From: GUEST,sorefingers

I learned it when I was still a little kid, the Book contained several so called easy tunes. I am now so old I can't remember the flood so I guess it was after that. Try two Galaxies after the one that fell apart before ours and subtract a large boat full of animals... oh never mind....


10 Apr 03 - 07:38 PM (#930751)
Subject: RE: Origins: Hava Nagila - - How old?
From: masato sakurai

This page (Who wrote Havah Nagilah?) may help.

~Masato


25 Apr 07 - 05:24 PM (#2035773)
Subject: Lyrics for Havah Nagila
From: LukeKellylives (Chris)

Phonetic would be appreciated. It's been in my head for a while now. I just need to check my pronunciation. I really only know that I'm right on the chorus. Chords aren't needed; I already have them.

Oh.

And welcome back to me! Whoo!


25 Apr 07 - 05:33 PM (#2035784)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Joe Offer

Hi, Chris - I've moved you over to this previous thread. Do any of the transcriptions above help you? I learned the song from the Belafonte recording. I wonder if he pronounced it right.
-Joe-


25 Apr 07 - 05:41 PM (#2035786)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: LukeKellylives (Chris)

Much appreciated, Joe. I found one that I was looking for.


25 Apr 07 - 05:41 PM (#2035787)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: skipy

Have a Taquilla
Have 2 Taquilla
Have 3 Taquilla
Let's get pissed!
Skipy


25 Apr 07 - 05:47 PM (#2035795)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Sorcha

Havah nahgeelah, repeat, etc
B'hvlay neese m'cah

Havah nah rrrroo nahh nahh, repeat

Oooo, roooo, oooo rooo ahkeem
Bh'lave sah may ach

Does that help?


25 Apr 07 - 07:00 PM (#2035858)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,JimP

I was at a late night sing a couple of years ago when someone sang, "Havana, Cuba . . ." with the rest of the tune being city names. He said it was a common parody, but I've never been able to find the words. Does this sound familiar to anyone?


25 Apr 07 - 08:41 PM (#2035918)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: oldhippie

"Dance Everyone Dance" was a top 40 hit for Betty Madigan in August 1958 (Coral 62007) with the lyrics:

Over the valley
Voices are singing
Bells are a ringing
Dance, everyone, dance

Come to the valley
Run through the clover
Harvest is over
Dance, everyone, dance

Dance where the corn was high
Under a golden sky
Dance where the wine was born
Dance, everyone, dance

Whirl and turn about
Lift up your arms and shout
Join hands, skip along
Dance, everyone, dance

Turn left, turn right, hold tight
Lift your feet, the heart will follow
Lift your voice, fill the hollow
Spread your wings like the swallow
Fly away, greet the day
Dance, dance, everybody, dance

Dance, dance, dance, dance
Dance, dance, dance, dance


25 Apr 07 - 08:51 PM (#2035928)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Amos

Phonetic:

Havah na-geela (4x)
Vay-neece-may-ghah

(repeat)

Hah-vah nah-renn-nen-nah
(3x)
Vay-neece-may-ghah
Repeat

ooo-roo, oo-roo ach-him
00-ra'gheem bayleff samaya
00-ra'gheem bayleff samaya
00-ra'gheem bayleff samaya
00-ra'gheem !
00-ra'gheem!
bayleff samay-ay-ya

Disclaimer: I am not an Israeli, Jewish or a native Hebrew or Yiddish speaker, and your mileage may vary.


A


26 Apr 07 - 12:09 AM (#2035995)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Charlie Baum

The version above from BUTTERFLY (Date: 16 Dec 02 - 04:58 PM ) is the best of the transliterations here.

"ch" is the soft fricative sound as in German Bach or Scottish loch
long "i" is a long "ee" as in "pita bread" (but not in the "nis" of "vay-nis-m' chah"
"a" is always short, except when spelled out as "ay"
And it's "sa-may-ach"


26 Apr 07 - 03:11 AM (#2036056)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Wilfried Schaum

Hava nagila ve-nism:kha
Hava neranena ve-nism:kha
Uru akhim be-lev sameakh

: = sh:wa mobile, a murmured e-sound (e as in best, not as in before)


26 Apr 07 - 08:18 AM (#2036178)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Darowyn

I have never sung Hava Nagila but for a long time now I've used the tune as a guitar warm up, because the Middle Eastern scale uses all four fingers.
I've never seen the words written down before this, but I did always wonder who the couple in the second verse were
"Uru Hakim and Vanessa Mayer"
I am glad to be put right on this long standing mystery.
Cheers
Dave


30 Nov 07 - 02:34 AM (#2205307)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Volgadon

Guys in the 40s and 50s would sing the part that goes hava neranena with gusto. In the slang of the time the verb leranen was rather naughty.


30 Nov 07 - 12:54 PM (#2205623)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: nickp

UK version done by Joe Brown and his Bruvvers [sic] in the '60s. On the B side of 'That Yellow Dress You Wore' (from memory)


20 Mar 08 - 10:26 PM (#2294203)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Volgadon

As to the origins, I can't remeber by who, but it was written and arranged to mark Allenby's liberation of Jerusalem in 1917.


02 Feb 09 - 04:01 PM (#2555517)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,GUEST, TONY, UK

Right, here goes. To the best of my knowledge, the song is by Connie Francis and it's entitled "HAVA NAGILA (DANCE EVERYBODY DANCE)
and the lyrics are as follows

Hava nagila, hava
nagila, hava,
nagila venis mecha.
Hava nagila, hava
nagila, hava,
nagila venis mecha.

Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.
Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.

Uru, uru achim,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim
uru achim
uru achim
belev sameach.

Over the valley
Voices are singing
Bells are a ringing
Dance, everyone, dance

Come to the valley
Run through the clover
Harvest is over
Dance, everyone, dance

Dance where the corn was high
Under a golden sky
Dance where the one was born
Dance, everyone, dance

Whirl and turn about
Lift up your arms and shout
Join hands, skip along
Dance, everyone, dance

Turn left, turn right, hold tight
Lift your feet, the heart will follow
Lift your voice, fill the hollow
Spread your wings like the swallow
Spread your wings like the swallow
Fly away, greet the day
Dance, dance, everybody, dance

Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.
Hava neranena, hava neranena,
hava neranena, venis mecha.

Uru, uru achim,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim belev sameach,
uru achim
uu achim
uru achim
belev sameach.

Hope this was of some help to you.


02 Feb 09 - 04:55 PM (#2555555)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Amos

Connie FRANCIS???


Um...I think it goes back a bit further than that, no?



From this site on Jewish culture

"If there is one Jewish song known by Jews and non-Jews alike, it is undoubtedly Hava Nagila. From its obscure origins in early twentieth-century Palestine, the song has gone on to become a perennial favorite at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and Jewish--and non-Jewish--cultural events around the world. With its short lyrics and simple yet distinctive melody, Hava Nagila has been recorded hundreds of times by musicians ranging from Neil Diamond, the Barry Sisters, and Harry Belafonte to the contemporary pop singer Ben Folds and the Serbian Gypsy brass band legend Boban Marcovic. Yet for all of its widespread popularity, few know the history of this global Jewish hit.
        
Eastern European Origins

Like many modern Israeli and popular Jewish songs, Hava Nagila began its life as a Hasidic melody in Eastern Europe. There the tune was sung as a nigun (wordless melody) among the Sadigorer Hasidim, who took their name from the small town of Sadigora in Bukovina (present-day Ukraine), where the Rizhiner Rebbe, Reb Yisroel Friedman (1798-1850) had settled from Russia and established his court in 1845.

At some point around the turn of the last century, a group of Sadigorer Hasidim emigrated to Jerusalem and brought the nigun with them. There the melody might have remained in the cloistered world of Jerusalem's Hasidic communities if not for one man, Avraham Zvi Idelsohn--the father of Jewish musicology.

Idelsohn was born in 1882 in Foelixburg (Filzburg), a small town in the Courland province of Tsarist Russia (present-day Latvia). He trained as a cantor in Russia and studied classical music in conservatories in Berlin and Leipzig before settling in Jerusalem sometime after 1905. He soon became active as a musician, music teacher, and scholar in the Jewish community there.

As a passionate Zionist, Idelsohn sought to collect and preserve the folk music of Jewish communities from around the world, using a phonograph to record the traditional melodies of Yemenite, Russian, German, Moroccan, and other communities he encountered in Jerusalem. At the same time, he sought to pioneer a new style of modern national music that would unify the Jewish people as they returned to their historic homeland in Palestine. To that end, he arranged and composed many new Hebrew-language songs based on traditional melodies. These modern songs with ancient roots quickly became popular as new Hebrew folk songs, sung in kibbutzim, moshavot, and printed in songbooks in the Jewish yishuv and beyond. Among them was Hava Nagila."


02 Feb 09 - 06:39 PM (#2555665)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Gerry

Amos, I assumed the Connie Francis reference was to the English stanzas. Those stanzas are not likely to have been written by anyone Jewish, what with the line, "Dance where the one was born."


02 Feb 09 - 09:24 PM (#2555775)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,Peace

Hava Nagila.

No thanks. Just had one and I'm full. But thanks.


03 Feb 09 - 01:23 PM (#2556318)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Jack Campin

There are also the Matt McGinn lyrics "Have a Banana".

I have a CD of Georgian folk music performed by the band "Rustavi". They include an instrumental version of the tune, which they say originated in North Ossetia. So I wonder if its origins aren't a good bit further south-east of Bukovina and maybe a bit less mono-ethnic.


28 Jun 10 - 02:31 AM (#2935828)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,orah pninah

Thank you everyone so much..... I'm passing this English version on to a three year old and his mother....they LOVE the melody and tempo. Thank you for brainstorming and finding the English lyrics from my childhood.


28 Jun 10 - 07:12 PM (#2936313)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Tattie Bogle

Here'a Youtube of the Matt McGinn version "Have a Banana" which Jack referred to last year: not for the faint-hearted or politically correct!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLA-4nP4cyQ


28 Jun 10 - 07:29 PM (#2936318)
Subject: Lyr Add: HARVEY AND SHEILA (Allan Sherman)
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego

This song first gained wide popularity in the late 1940's or early 1950's courtesy of The Weavers. I remember hearing it on radio then.

And, of course, there is also the Allan Sherman "version:"

Harvey And Sheila Lyrics by: Allan Sherman Music by: Lou Busch
Recorded live at Allan Sherman's Birthday Party (Nov 30, 1962)
from "This time, Allan Sherman's Mother Proudly Presents:
Allan Sherman: My Son, The Celebrity" ©1963 Warner Bros. Records, Inc.

Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
Oh, the day they met.
Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
No one will forget.
Harvey's a CPA.
He works for IBM.
He went to MIT and got his PhD.
Sheila's a girl I know,
At B.B.D.& O.
She works the PBX,
And makes out the checks.
Then came one great day when
Harvey took the elevator,
Sheila got in two floors later,
Soon they both felt they were falling,
Everyone heard Sheila calling,
"Ring the bell,"
But they fell.
Harv and Sheila fell in love.

Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
Chose a wedding ring.
Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
Married in the spring.
She shopped at A & P.
He bought a used MG.
They sat and watched TV
On their RCA.
Borrowed from HFC,
Bought some AT&T,
And on election day, worked for JFK.
Then they went and got a
Charge-A-Plate from R.H. Macy,
Bought a layette, pink and lacy,
Then they had twin baby girls,
Both with dimples, both with curls,
One named Bea,
One named Kay,
Soon they joined the PTA.

Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
Moved to West LA.
Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila, Harvey and Sheila,
Flew TWA.
They bought a house one day,
Financed by FHA.
It had a swimming pool, full of H2O.
Traded their used MG
For a new XKE.
Switched to the GOP,
That's the way things go.
Oh that Harvey he was
Really smart, he used his noodle.
Sheila bought a white French poodle,
Went to Europe with a visa,
Harvey's rich, they say that he's a VIP!
This could be,
Only in the USA!


29 Jun 10 - 02:16 PM (#2936746)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: GUEST,guest:Don W. in Germany

In 1980 I was on a kibbutz- there were a load of volunteers from latin America there who introduced us europeans to the art of drinking Tequila, which led to a song.........

Have a tequila
Have a tequila
Have a tequila
Have one more........


03 Mar 13 - 03:37 PM (#3485939)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Bettynh

For the sake of completeness, now there's a movie: (audio here, at least for now)

Film Hoists 'Hava Nagila' Up Onto A Chair, In Celebration Of Song And Dance
by NPR STAFF
February 28, 2013

Whether you love it or you hate it, you know it: "Hava Nagila." Maybe you grew up listening to Harry Belafonte's rendition, or found yourself in a chair being hoisted into the air by a singing crowd at your wedding or bat mitzvah. The kitschy Jewish standard lends itself particularly well to group singalongs and celebrity covers — but where did it come from?

In her latest documentary, Hava Nagila (The Movie), filmmaker Robert Grossman sets out to find the answer. Grossman tells NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin that she had always known that "Hava Nagila" binds people together in a special way. But she had never thought too much about its origins.

"It wasn't until I was finishing my last film, my daughter, who was 10 at the time, said, 'Mommy, please make a happy film next time.' And I took a breath, and I said, 'Honey, you know, documentary filmmakers are really not happy people,'" Grossman jokes. " ... But I thought it was a really brilliant idea, and coincidentally, just a couple weeks earlier, no kidding, I had sort of a dialogue bubble come up over my head, and I thought, 'what is 'Hava Nagila?'"

The questions that open Hava Nagila (The Movie) were Grossman's own questions at the beginning of her research, she says. "You know, is it 100 years old or 1,000 years old? Did somebody sit down to write it, did it come down from [Mount] Sinai? And I didn't even know what the words meant. And so began our 'Hava' quest."

"Hava Nagila" originated as a Hassidic nigun, or wordless prayer or melody. The nigun was used by the Hassidic movement in Eastern Europe, in Sadagora, Ukraine, Grossman explains. In 1905, the Sadagora Hassidim left that area for Palestine, where their song was recorded by the father of Jewish musicology, Abraham Zvi Idelsohn. He also put words to the song, Grossman says.

But the song's primary purpose hasn't always been celebration — its history is deeply political. As a folk song, Grossman says, "Hava Nagila" was a "tent-pole of the conscious creation of a Hebrew culture in Palestine before statehood."

"There were people who were, of course, revitalizing Hebrew as a modern spoken language, and then there were people who were using that modern spoken language to create poetry," she says. "Edelson had in his mind that if you could create a repertoire of folk song drawing on the roots of Jewish music from all over the world, in this case from Eastern Europe, and added Hebrew lyrics to it, then you could create a folk repertoire for the new nation, and that would help build the nation. So, it did have a political aspect to it."

Hava Nagila (The Movie) traces the migration of the song to the United States, where it takes on another life as a favorite tune for stars to cover, and as an infectious party song. In Grossman's mind, the "ambassador" of the song was the singer Harry Belafonte. In the film, Belafonte reflects on performing the song in Germany.

"It hit me kind of hard that here I was, an African American, an American, standing in Germany, a place [that] just a decade earlier had been responsible for one of the greatest mass murders the world had ever known. And here were these young German kids, singing this song, this Hebrew song of rejoicing. 'Let us have peace. Let us rejoice.' And I got very emotional."

"It was a song that would run through my head," Glenn Campell, whose rendition of "Hava Nagila" is on the B-side of his single for the movie True Grit, reflects in the film. "Everybody and his dog knows it. When I was doing bar mitzvahs and stuff like that when I first got out to L.A. ... I learned that one real quick, because you can get some more weddings that way."

When Bob Dylan performed his cheeky "Talkin' Hava Negeilah Blues," he introduced the tune as "a foreign song I learned in Utah." Dylan's guitar, harmonica and yodeling were so culturally incongruous that they became a different kind of homage.

"Bob Dylan butchers it. Just butchers it," Josh Kun, a musicologist and professor at the University of Southern California, says in the film. "I mean, it's a performance of 'Hava Nagila' that is meant to not [be a performance of] 'Hava Nagila,' which ultimately is a performance of 'Hava Nagila,' which is why I kind of like it."

"That, to me, is the Jewish song," Kun continues. "Nothing is more Jewish than that performance, precisely because it is both an embrace and a refusal. It's the smartest song about Jewish identity I've ever heard."

Hava Nagila (The Movie) is brimming with home movie footage of large, boisterous groups getting down to "Hava Nagila" at bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings. The footage, says Grossman, is "from my psyche but not from my collection. We found that film at the National Center for Jewish Film which was out of Brandeis."

Some of the quintessentially celebratory footage is from the bar mitzvah of a boy named Sydney Borstein. "... I would love to speak with Sydney," says Grossman. "I love that family so much, and this is why it's the perfect archival footage. The family is completely filled with joy and happiness. They obviously love each other. They are completely unaware of the camera, so it's wonderful. It's a priceless piece of archival stock footage."

And that pure joy, says Grossman, is ultimately what "Hava Nagila" is all about. Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, one of the many Jewish luminaries in Hava Nagila (The Movie) told Grossman something that didn't end up in the film: "He told me that if he could speak to a boy or a girl who just had their bar or bat mitzvah, and had been lifted up in the chair to 'Hava Nagila,' he'd say, 'I want you to take that 'Hava Nagila' moment, and put it in your pocket, and whenever you need it throughout the course of your life, I want you to take it out, and remember that moment where your parents and your grandparents and your family and friends were all around you , loving you, looking up at you and saying 'Yes, you can do it.' And take that 'Hava Nagila' moment with you for the rest of your life.'"


03 Mar 13 - 06:16 PM (#3486010)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: MGM·Lion

For accuracy, the lyrics, with repetitions as required by the tune, are

‎הָבָה נָגִילָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה
‎הָבָה נְרַנְּנָה
‎עוּרוּ אַחִים בְּלֵב שָׂמֵחַ.


שלום

‎מיכאל


04 Mar 13 - 02:51 AM (#3486115)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: Keith A of Hertford

Duly noted.
Thanks for that clarification Michael.


04 Mar 13 - 03:15 AM (#3486117)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hava Nagila
From: MGM·Lion

בבקשה


20 Nov 21 - 04:04 PM (#4126815)
Subject: RE: Hava Nagila
From: Felipa

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/i-am-hava-by-freda-lewkowicz-illustrated-by-siona-benjamin-book-launch-tickets-166514889517

Sun, November 21, 2021 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT

I AM HAVA by Freda Lewkowicz, illustrated by Siona Benjamin - Book Launch

I AM HAVA; A SONG’S STORY OF LOVE, HOPE & JOY with author Freda Lewkowicz and illustrator, Siona Benjamin

In her own words, the world’s most joyful song invites you to celebrate. Clap, sing and dance into history with Hava Nagila as she journeys around the world.

I AM HAVA: A SONG’S STORY OF LOVE, HOPE & JOY is the story of Hava Nagila’s odyssey from its beginning as a niggun, a wordless opera of rejoicing sounds in Sadagora, Ukraine, to its present day iconic status spreading hope around the world.

While her journey began in the Ukraine, Hava soon settled in Israel. She was first sung with lyrics in 1918 at a concert in Jerusalem celebrating the defeat of the Turks by the British. Later she journeyed to North America where she helped the Jewish community forget their troubles, easing the pain and grief of World War 2. As an antidote to sorrow, she helped tune out the terror of events they could not control.

Today, as in Sadagora and the Holy Land, Hava Nagila celebrates life. At the Olympics. In sports arenas. In movies. At weddings and bar mitzvahs. Hava Nagila, meaning ‘come and rejoice,’ lifts everybody up and dazzles the world.

Siona Paints Hava, short video: "Renowned Indian-American Jewish artist, Siona Benjamin, discusses her thoughts about her debut picture book, I AM HAVA: A Song's Story of Love, Hope & Joy written by Freda Lewkowi


21 Nov 21 - 01:17 PM (#4126887)
Subject: RE: Origins: Hava Nagila
From: voyager

I always thought this was a traditional Cuban folk sing about a poisonous reptile - Havana + gila (silent h in Spanish =
Hava Nagila.

sorry about that chief
voyager