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The Ballad of Rivka and Mohammed
Leon Rosselson
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Capo 5
A beautiful song about the occupation of Palestine from Jewish British songwriter Leon Rosselson
The song is originally fingerpicked. I don t know how he plays it exactly, but this pattern works well:
e|--------2-------2| e|--------0-------0| e|--------0-------0| e|--------3-------3|
B|----1-------1----| B|----0-------0----| B|----1-------1----| B|----2-------2----|
G|------2-------2--| G|------1-------1--| G|------0-------0--| G|------0-------0--|
D|-----------0-----| D|-----------2-----| D|-----------------| D|----------0------|
A|--0--------------| A|--2--------------| A|--3--------------| A|-----------------|
E|-----------------| E|-----------------| E|-----------3-----| E|--3--------------|
[Verse]
I was watching the news from Gaza
And I fell asleep on my chair
And when I awoke from my slumber
A young girl was standing there.
[Verse]
She said, My name is Rivka
They killed me because Iâm a Jew
I died in the ghetto of Vilna
In nineteen forty two.
[Verse]
The ghetto was like a prison
They wouldnât allow us to leave
Some said they were going to kill us all
We didnât know what to believe.
[Verse]
That day I wore my new red dress
My bubbe had made for me
And in that crowded ghetto
It made me feel proud and free.
[Verse]
I looked up at the soldier
I looked him in the eye
I forgot to bow my head down
And so I had to die.
[Verse]
He smashed my head with his rifle
Because I was too bold
I was killed in the Vilna ghetto
When I was seven years old.
[Verse]
And then out of the darkness
A young boyâs gaze met mine
He said, My name is Mohammed
My country is Palestine.
[Verse]
Iâve lived all my life in Gaza
And the only time I feel free
Is when I go down to the harbour
And feel the wind from the sea.
[Verse]
That day I went with my cousins
We ran down to the beach to play
Then the soldier fired a shell at me
And blew my life away.
[Verse]
They want to crush our spirits
They want us to be afraid
Locked up in the prison of Gaza
The prison that they have made.
[Verse]
To them our lives donât matter
They force us to live in a cage
I was killed on the beach in Gaza
At eleven years of age.
[Verse]
They donât think that we deserve freedom
Or belong to the human race.
Mohammed, my brother, said Rivka,
This world is a cold, cold place.
[Verse]
Mohammed, my friend, my brother,
Let us leave this world of war.
Then each took the hand of the other
And then they were seen no more.
[Verse]
But I saw spokesmen and politicians
Lining up to speechify
And every word was a hypocrite
And every word was a lie.
[Verse]
I saw children still being slaughtered
The monster must have its fill
While the people with power sat on their hands
And supplied the weapons that kill.
[Verse]
I weep for the people of Gaza
And they are weeping still
And I curse the ones who did nothing
And enable the monster to kill.