Arabic Song about keeping dignity (3) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jun 11, 2021 in Arabic Language, Culture, Idioms, Music, Pronunciation, Proverbs, Vocabulary
Welcome to the second part of this log post series where we talk about common expressions around the concept of dignity الكرامة, in Arabic. Please refer back to the first and second part of this blog post to read more about the concept in Arabic and some of the common vernacular proverbs that Arab speaking people use when talking about keeping one’s dignity حِفاظ الإنسان على كرامته. Today’s post provides an opportunity to learn, in context, other popular expressions about keeping one’s dignity. The context will be a song – in Egyptian Arabic – called: Elli Baʕ-na اللّي باعنا “The one who sold us”.
Image by Frida Bredesen on Unsplash.com
The song we’re learning today is by the iconic Lebanese singer راغب علامة Ragheb ʕalaama. The song went viral when first released in summer 2018. It’s interestingly very suitable to the topic of dignity and can well complement your understanding of how the this concept is expressed in another setting, i.e. songs. In the lyrics provided below, 5 different phrases/ sentences about this concept are bolded for you to notice and learn. These phrases are used by the singer to specifically emphasises that he can’t care less about being forgotten or sold by his beloved as it’s all about keeping one’s dignity!
اللي باعنا
The one who sold us
اللي باعنا
The one who sold us
خسر دلعنا
lost our flattering/pampering
راح لحاله
went on his own
يلا يودّعنا
whatever, let him part with us
بالسلامة
Goodbye
والقلب ناسيه
and the heart has already forgotten him
= = = = = =
واللي سابنا
And the one who left us
قفلنا بابنا
we closed our door
يلا بينا وفّرنا تعبنا
Whatever, we saved our effort
الحياة مش واقفة عليه
Life isn’t stopping for him
= = = = = =
من امتى بيفرق لنا
Since when it matters to us
مين راح او مين استنى
Who left or who waited
اللي يحبنا يكسب ودّنا
The one who loves us, earns our friendliness/love
ويضحي عشانا
And sacrifices for us
مبسوط على كده
If he’s happy with this
100 فل ورضا
A hundred Jasmin and contentment
ومش عاجبه يسيبنا
And if he doesn’t like it, he leaves us
هو اللي اختار بإيديه النار
He was the one who chose hell with his hands
وخرج من الجنة
And got out of heaven
= = = = = =
اللي باعنا
The one who sold us
خسر دلعنا
lost our flattering/pampering
راح لحاله
went on his own
يلا يودّعنا
whatever, let him part with us
بالسلامة
Goodbye
والقلب ناسيه
and the heart has already forgotten him
= = = = = =
اللي غايب
That who is absent
مالوهش نايب
has no delegate
راح حبيب
A lover left
يجي غيره حبايب
other lovers come
عمرنا ما هنسأل فيه
we will never care about him
واللي يخرج برّه حياتنا
And that who gets out of our life
عادي، بنشيله من حساباتنا
It’s ok, we leave him out of our calculations
1“we’ll not play tricks on him to (stay)”مش هنتحايل عليه
We will not beg him
= = = = = =
واللي مابيعرفش قيمتنا
And the one who doesn’t know our value
تبقى سكته غير سكتنا
Then his path is not our path
خد معاه الشر وراح
he took evil with him and elft
مش هنتعب روحنا عشانو
We won’t tire/bother ourselves for him
ألف مين يتمنوا مكانه
A thousand of people wish they could be in his place
هو كده ريّح وارتاح
This way, he gave us rest and he got rest
= = = = = =
- 1“we’ll not play tricks on him to (stay)”
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About the Author: Hanan Ben Nafa
Hi, this is Hanan :) I'm an Arabic linguist. I completed my PhD in Linguistics - 2018. My PhD thesis was entitled Code-switching as an evaluative strategy: identity construction among Arabic-English bilinguals. I'm also a qualified public service translator & interpreter.