This song was the winner of the 1978
Eurovision Song Contest. It was performed by
Yizhar Cohen and The Alphabeta, on behalf of
Israel. It was the first time Israel won the competition, and there would be two more: The year after,
Milk & Honey won with
Halleluja, and in 1998,
Dana International the used-to-be-a-man-now-a-woman won, much to the dismay of the
Orthodox Jews in Israel.
The song is so absurd, I decided to node it. I'm bringing it here in Hebrew (written of course in English letters). Basically he is saying "when we were kids, we made the girls suffer, but what we really felt, we said in the language of 'Bet'". Bet is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the Bet Language means you put in a Bet after every letter (remember, in Hebrew there are no vowels, so it makes sense). So 'I love you' in the language of 'B' would be "I-bye Lo-bov You-bou." (Where Lo and Bo are pronounced as the 'o' in 'love').
That is all he says in the chorus. Ani ohev otakh (I love you) becomes 'A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh'.
A Ba Ni Bi - Yizhar Cohen and The Alphabeta.
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
O-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
Keshe-hayinu yeladim, 'ahavnu be-sodey sodot
'El mi hayinu nekhmadim - rak le-dodim u-le-dodot
Ve-ha-banot ha-miskenot savlu, ha-metukot, hen rak makot kiblu
Ve-'et ma she-hirgashnu be'emet lakhashnu rak bi-sfat ha-Bet
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
'Ahava hi mila yafa, hi tfila yafa, hi safa
Ahava hi elay tova
Hi tamid titgaber u-bi-sfat 'ahava nedaber
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
Ani kholem ve-kam shalosh milim
U-mahu ha-olam - shalosh milim
Ve-ze ma she-ani margish ka'et
Mamash kmo az, bi-sfat ha-Bet
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
A-ba-ni-bi o-bo-e-bev
O-bo-e-bev o-bo-ta-bakh
Translation: (I'm translating it pretty literally)
I-bye Lo-bov
I-bye Lo-bov you-bou
When we were children, we loved in secret
To whom were we nice? Only to the aunts and uncles
And the poor girls suffered, the cute ones, only got beaten up
And what we truly felt, we whispered in the language of the Bet (haha! that rhymed! I'm such a great translator)
I-bye Lo-bov
I-bye Lo-bov you-bou
Love is a nice word, it's a nice prayer, it is a language
Love is good to me
It will always prevail, and we will speak with the language of love
I-bye Lo-bov
I-bye Lo-bov you-bou
I dream and wake - three words
And what is the world - three words
And that is what I feel right now
Just like then, in the language of the Bet
I-bye Lo-bov
I-bye Lo-bov you-bou
(It sort of makes you wonder why the hell they won, doesn't it?)