"Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a Jew" (or, Questionable content)

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Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
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  • #613799
    Randomex
    Member

    Whether the title quote (a key line from Country Yossi’s “Nebich of the Shteeble”) is true might be a difficult question to answer.

    What other Jewish songs (or other media, but not those imported-Israeli-insanity videos) can you think of that have questionable statements or messages, whether they were meant to be taken seriously or not?

    I’ll start (again) with “A Boy Named Zlateh.” (I don’t mean to pick on him, I’m a fan! And I love his Or Chodosh work, so don’t tell me I just like non-Jewish songs, which not all Shteeble-Hoppers songs are parodies of either, for your information. Not all.)

    #1113780
    cozimjewish
    Member

    A boy named Sue is waaaay better! In general, I like the original version way better, with the exception of My Little Yingele 🙂 love that song!!

    #1113781
    DaMoshe
    Participant

    Moishe Online, from Destiny 4. Really, throwing your entire PC out the window? The problem is the user, not the PC.

    #1113782
    Randomex
    Member

    Oh, you do know his stuff – why didn’t you say so?!

    Do you have complete lists of the original songs?

    I think I’ve only got full lists for “Ride Again!” and the first two albums.

    I haven’t heard most of the originals, but I think “Make Believe” is an improvement on the original, I don’t remember “Runaround Sue” being too impressive, and, while I’m not a fan of “7 Little Kids,” it beats “7 Little Girls” in my book. Beyond just me,

    I’ve seen people claim online that “Coward of the County” isn’t as good as “Nebich,” and it’s hard to imagine “Blind Man in the Bleachers” is as touching as “Deaf Man in the Shteeble.”

    #1113783
    catch yourself
    Participant

    If I were suddenly to realize that I am allergic to peanut butter, I would immediately throw out any and all vestiges of the (delicious) stuff from my house. The problem, of course, is with me, not with peanut butter; however, this is a necessary precaution.

    There is no question that the problem is with the user, not with the PC. What is a user with a problem to do? I think Moishe Online has it right; in his circumstances, throwing the PC through the window was the necessary course of action (and it sure beats throwing the user through the window…).

    #1113784

    I once learned that one way to fight your yetzer horah is to create a brick wall that you cannot penetrate to prevent you from accessing whatever your taavah is. So throwing out your entire PC would be one immediate, practical way of overcoming the problem, although you’re right that it doesn’t remedy the root of the problem. (from experience with cutting up library cards.)

    #1113785
    DaMoshe
    Participant

    catch yourself: throwing the PC out the window is like throwing your entire closet out just to get rid of the peanut butter.

    #1113786
    cozimjewish
    Member

    Randomex – I know names of most copies and one or two lines of them (e.g. Blind Man in the Bleachers, Alee Oop (spelling?!), Simon Says etc.)- coz whenever I sing a copied song, my father starts singing the original (lol – that’s what happens when you have a father who grew up in the sixties/seventies) I don’t know most of them myself. I know Runaround Sue and The Witch Doctor though, among others. I looooooooved the former idk why but I found it funny, especially the end 🙂

    #1113787

    Sometimes it’s worth it. Like if you’re deathly allergic to p.b. Even if you’ll end up getting it again in the future (the computer, or library card…)

    #1113788
    catch yourself
    Participant

    I am more than happy to haggle over the specific details of the mashal (see below), but simply by entering into the conversation, I think you have conceded that the song is not “questionable.” The point of the song was to illustrate the struggle of internet addiction, and the unlikely combination of fortuitous circumstances and Gevura that would be required to win the battle. I think the message is correct and the point was well made.

    To the extent that it is necessary to discuss (are we really nitpicking the lyrics of a Destiny song?), I think that the situation in which Moishe found himself allowed for no other solution. As eftachbchinor points out, sometimes it’s necessary to take drastic measures.

    I agree that in a less pressured situation it would be reasonable to cancel your internet service, or even just call TAG; Moishe, however, has only a moment to make a choice that can save his life. I think he makes the right call, don’t you?

    #1113789

    what about “we’ve done all we can” from avrohom freids father don’t cry

    #1113790
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    What about the silent part.

    #1113791

    I never chapped why “b’rosh hashana” from M.B.D. is nice and beaty. Ditto to The Chevra’s “yhei, yhei…”. Totally inappropriate, unless I missed something. Talking about Destiny 4- love it! Brings back fond memories. Leather jackets and Dovi and Rabbi Green and all.

    #1113792
    interjection
    Participant

    I was in macys and suddenly they started playing ‘and then he potched me’ except in this song the word wasn’t potch.

    #1113794
    Bookworm120
    Participant

    I clicked on this because I recognized the line from the song. I haven’t listened to Country Yossi in ages … time to go through the old cassette tapes!

    “Deaf Man in the Shteeble” is beautiful. It’s almost brought me to tears on a few occasions. I wouldn’t want to listen to anything less spiritually uplifting. I’ll just pretend the original song doesn’t exist in my space-time continuum.

    And, I’ll take “The Little Kinderlach” over “Kars 4 Kids” any day.

    @interjection – Personally, I prefer the vocals in the Crystals’ version over Country Yossi’s, if not for the lyrical content. (Blech!) Also, I always felt bad for the boy in CY’s song, what with the parenting and teaching methods he was put through!

    Does anyone feel there’s a slight “mixed message” when frum bands parody modern pop songs by folks like edited and edited (if the mods will allow us to write such unholy names here)? In comparison to the “oldie” songs Country Yossi and Veroba have parodied over the years, modern pop songs have little to no artistic merit.

    I know the frum artists say right and left that they don’t endorse the original songs, the original artists, etc., but religious people who may not otherwise have heard these songs might still become exposed and desensitized to the (for the lack of a better word) musical style of this (typically) morally incompatible genre and not know to stay away if/when the original junk starts playing.

    #1113795

    “I was in macys and suddenly they started playing ‘and then he potched me’ except in this song the word wasn’t potch.”

    I was in a Mexican car service when all of a sudden the radio sings “Hashem melech…” only in Spanish. I asked the driver what it means and he said “I love to dance…”

    #1113796
    cozimjewish
    Member

    LOL! yeah I also heard “Hashem Melech”….at the doctor! (not a Jewish one) I was like….hey, wait a minute!

    #1113799
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Country Yossi, Cholent.

    (Also, throwing a computer out a window can cause serious injuries to someone outside.)

    #1113800
    GrepsilBoorvis
    Participant

    Randomex-Check out you tube for country yossi and I believe their first 3 albums are posted featuring all the originals plus their CY parodies!

    b/t/w, Sholom Ber drowning while saving a classmate who wouldn’t befriend him was pretty heavy!

    #1113801

    Grepsil, I assume you’re referring to

    “Parodies / Originals: Country Yossi Vol. 1 – Wanted!”

    and

    “Parodies / Originals: Country Yossi Vol. 2 – Strike Again!”

    As I mentioned previously in this thread,

    I already have lists for the first 2 albums.

    edited

    #1113802

    As for Sholom Ber, you’re spoiling it for people! More spoiling follows:

    In Kivi and Tuki Vol. 4, you find out that he actually didn’t drown!

    (Yeah, it contradicts the “never seen again” part. Too bad!)

    And, I’ll take “The Little Kinderlach” over “Kars 4 Kids” any day.

    Is there some connection between these? “Kars 4 Kids” is an

    Oorah commercial jingle that was created much more recently.

    …when frum bands parody modern pop songs

    by folks like edited and edited

    And put the names of the original artists in the notes, too!

    Why should those names be brought into Jewish houses?

    In comparison to the “oldie” songs Country Yossi and

    [Gershon] Veroba have parodied over the years, modern pop songs

    have little to no artistic merit.

    Eh. That’s arguable in some instances.

    …religious people who may not otherwise have heard these

    songs might still become exposed and desensitized to the (for the

    lack of a better word) musical style of this (typically) morally

    incompatible genre and not know to stay away if/when the original

    junk starts playing.

    I don’t know if “You shouldn’t copy non-Jewish music because

    people will get used to the sound of it, and then they won’t be

    immediately sonically repelled by actual non-Jewish music”

    is a valid complaint, or whether the underlying idea is correct.

    There may be an inyan that on principle, our music

    should be different from theirs, to show that we’re separate.

    I plan on reading a couple of pages off the Internet

    about Jewish views on music in the near future.

    #1113803
    Hashemisreading
    Participant

    I could be wrong, but I’m not sure how accurate The Deaf Man in the Shteeble is either. Is it really true that the minute after someone dies they are all cured already?

    #1113804
    skripka
    Participant

    If you are going to nitpick why not nitpick over the fact that he is davening for the amud a day after his father was niftar

    #1113805
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Does anyone have a kosher version of “Cholent”?

    #1113806

    Is it really true that the minute after someone dies they are all cured already?

    There’s no such thing as a deaf neshomo.

    What the neshomo’s range of hearing is

    (and/or what it might depend on), I don’t know.

    why not nitpick over the fact that he is

    davening for the amud a day after his father was niftar

    In a case when he is the only available person

    who is suited for the job, it is permissible.

    #1113807
    #1113808
    Hashemisreading
    Participant

    I have a kosher version of cholent

    doesn’t cholent only come in Kosher?

    #1113809
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    You understand that I wasn’t talking about food.

    #1113810
    Hashemisreading
    Participant

    I understand you were talking about the song.

    You understand I was using a form of Sarcasm.

    #1113811

    “I will not milk a cow” from a song you probably know.

    Actually, you must milk your cows on Shabbos,

    because they will suffer if you don’t.

    (I think there are halachos about what you

    are or aren’t allowed to do with such milk.)

    #1113812
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    He doesn’t own a cow. You must milk a cow, but if you don’t have one, you’re not allowed to milk one.

    #1113813

    You are presumably allowed to milk a cow for its owner,

    which is the context the song is about doing things in.

    (The song also implies that milking a cow is a melochoh.

    I doubt that’s true, although animals are muktzeh.)

    #1113814
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    He doesn’t know anyone who owns a cow. He doesn’t know how. And a lot of songs imply things they don’t mean to imply.

    #1113815

    (I almost missed the link. I thought of posting this there, but

    I decided that it fit in better here, and I thought of posting

    that link, but I decided there was no reason to.)

    How do you know he doesn’t know anyone who owns a cow?

    (Does “Bubby I Love You” imply anything it doesn’t mean to?)

    #1113816
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    It implies that Fox’s u-bet chocolate syrup is very black.

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