City Of Summer (Winter, Autumn and Spring). This song is good for anytime, especially now.

The artistic insights and interpretations of the song are credited to the yosmusic site, an initiative of journalist and music critic, Yossi Harsonsky. The translation is solely mine.

Berry Sakharof is one of the elder statesmen of Israeli Rock. Even at the distinguished age of 67, his deep, distinctive voice resonates with the Israeli Public, and he remains highly popular. One of his biggest hits, City of Summer (or in the original Hebrew, עיר של קיץ), was composed by Micha Shitrit, and was released in December 1998, as part of his fourth album נגיעות. Twenty-six years ago feels like an eternity. The shock of Rabin’s assassination was perhaps receding, and the Second Intifada, or Oslo War, would only rear its ugly head almost two years later. Although there were still soldiers in Southern Lebanon, aliyah, the construction sector and the economy were booming. The country was at peace. And yet, the undertones of the song are about war. Which, upon reflection, makes sense. This country is never truly at peace. Micha Shitrit wrote about fleeing the country, caused by a feeling of dissatisfaction and unease, living on the edge, in an oppressive Israeli climate, without Spring or Autumn. The condition for returning to Israel – War. This is not a slap in the face. This is the irony amongst the reality: Israelis who left the land, return to it like a lover to his love, only when war breaks out. It is as if the war is the “positive” condition that will bring them back. The song was featured on the yosmusic site on 12 October 2023, five days after the country’s darkest day, praising it as a song suitable for any time or season, especially then and now, and especially pertinent as thousands of miluimnikim (reservists) were struggling to find flights to get back home. The dissonance: that love can exist against the background of war. It is not exactly a return from exile, but a rather a return to the bosom of love, which is home. And what now, at this moment? Now, to escape from reality – to dine and wine and dance, and enjoy the moment. A cry of pleasure mingles with a cry of shock. Our lives are a secret of flirtation, conditional on inhibition, but becoming real and in focus only when there is a war, or shortly thereafter. And if we go one step further with the analogy, Israeli society is strengthened and enhanced during war. Suddenly, everyone returns (home) physically and spiritually. The ironic meaning of the text is intensified by the dark music, the sleepy arrangement, and the restrained performance of Berry Sakharof.

City of Summer

(translated by David Arkin)

Days of Summer and Winter, with no Spring or Autumn

I’m not returning to you, for this is the end, this is the beginning

Only coming war will bring us home

Like a lover to his love

Just as after war, if it comes, if it comes

And now to dine, and to drink from the wine

And then to dance, and arise with me home

And now to laugh, and then to fall

To fall quietly into your arms

And the city, Tel Aviv, city of Summer not Autumn

It all reverts to you, the end and also the beginning

Only coming war will bring us home

Like a lover to his love

Just as after war, if it comes, if it comes

And now to dine, and to drink from the wine

And then to dance, and arise with me home

And now to laugh, and then to fall

To fall quietly into your arms

עיר של קיץ

ברי סחרוף

מילים: מיכה שטרית

לחן: ברי סחרוף וגידי רז

ימים של קיץ או חורף בלי אביב ובלי סתיו

אנ’לא חוזר אלייך זה הסוף זו התחלה

רק מלחמה אם תבוא תחזיר אותנו הביתה

כמו אהוב לאהובה

כמו אחרי המלחמה אם תבוא אם תבוא

ועכשיו לאכול לשתות מהיין

אחר כך לרקוד ו  נעלה אלי הבית

ועכשיו לצעוק ואחר כך ליפול

ליפול בשקט ליפול בזרועותיך

והעיר עיר של קיץ בתל אביב אין סתיו

הכל חוזר אלייך גם סוף גם התחלה

רק מלחמה אם תבוא תחזיר אותנו הביתה

כמו אהוב לאהובה כמו אחרי מלחמה

אם תבוא אם תבוא

ועכשיו לאכול לשתות מהיין

אחר כך לרקוד ונעלה אלי הבית

ועכשיו לצעוק ואחר כך ליפול

ליפול בשקט ליפול בזרועותיך