Bo Ve-Nagen Oti

Lyrics: Ofra Haza
Music: Ofra Haza
Arrangements: Izhar Ashdot
Album: Yamim Nishbarim (1986)

Ofra: “I wrote the first five lines about a year ago (in 1985), when I returned to Israel and the terrible disaster of the children’s bus at the railway crossing at the HaBonim junction occurred. Parents called me and asked that I come visit the children who were hospitalized at Rambam. I went and brought them some comfort, but I myself felt terrible. I left there deeply, deeply sad. The song began with those children, and in the end it became a tormented love song. I had one subject in mind, but I couldn’t continue with it. It isn’t necessarily a song of tortured love. There is a lot of truth in these songs, and there is also a lot of imagination. Everything is mixed together.”

The song reached third place on Galatz’s weekly charts, but did not enter the annual chart. Translated by Malka Tischler

Transliteration
Translation

Bo Ve-Nagen Oti
Kol gufi nechlash
Tipa achar tipa
U-mar’i kachash
Min ha-srefa
Lama liv’or levad?

Min ha-srefa
Lama liv’or levad?

Yadai chomkot mimcha
U-mastirot ha-sod
Rak ha-mabat itcha
Soref bi od
Lama liv’or levad ha-layla?

Soref bi od
Lama liv’or levad?
Lama liv’or levad ha-layla?

Kol layla hu mach’ov
Kol layla hu ha-sof
Az bo ve-nagen oti
Bo ve-nagen oti
Az bo ve-nagen
Bo ve-nagen bi me’at ahava

Raglay holchot mimcha
Be-tza’ar ha-prida
Noshmet et kulcha
Ach avuda
Lama liv’or levad
Kvar ayeifa
Kach le’abed otcha
Kach le’abed otcha
Kol layla

Kol layla hu mach’ov
Kol layla hu ha-sof
Az bo ve-nagen oti
Bo ve-nagen oti
Az bo ve-nagen
Bo ve-nagen bi me’at ahava

Bo ve-nagen oti

Kol layla hu mach’ov
Kol layla hu ha-sof
Az bo ve-nagen oti
Bo ve-nagen oti
Az bo ve-nagen
Bo ve-nagen bi me’at ahava

Az bo ve-nagen oti
Ken, nagen oti
Bo ve-nagen bi me’at ahava

Bo Ve-Nagen Oti

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