Israeli singer, songwriter and producer Idan Raichel wrote this song as a musical setting for a poem written by a young IDF soldier named Reuven Politi to his mother before his death in the Y”K war.
Listen to the way Raichel wrote the verses evoking the intensity and fear of war, and switches abruptly to a major scale for the chorus (ironically, just for the words „We are not heros”), for a brief tinge of hope. All of that amplifies the exquisite pathos of the rest of the chorus as it moves into a minor scale as the narrator tries desperately to impress upon his mother the urgency of his message. Of course, knowing the mortal fate of that young soldier only makes it that much more heartbreaking.
Lyrics:
And when the night is over and the sun shines
Do you know what our eyes see mom?
Trees around,with tall leaderships but stem scorched
Big houses around but their ruind and matte colored
I’m walking on ruins, Mom
And believe me there’s no pear is not the flower
we are not heroes because our job is black
the sun will set, the darkness will come
and then we will sleep with our clothes in the bed
yes mother,it’s importent, it’s hard and it’s terrible
I sweer that its hard but I’m staying
the ground is gray and the distance is black
and the blue of the sky like pauses and it’s waiting
and doesn’t touch,doesn’t touch in the black distance
a space between them,nothing to do with all the rest
and it’s really hard but I’m staying
there is a wire fence and after her drawn sword
mom, dad and all the rest
we are not heroes because our job is black
the sun will set, the darkness will come
and then we will sleep with our clothes in the bed
yes mother,it’s importent, it’s hard and it’s terrible
And when the night is over and the sun shines
Do you know what our eyes see mom?