Siouxsie and the Banshees had a long and critically-acclaimed career (1976-1996), but their golden period was the early 80s, especially the period when the great Greenock-born guitarist John McGeoch joined them (1980-82), featuring the albums Kaleidoscope, Juju, and A Kiss In The Dreamhouse. Between the first two of these albums they released Israel as a single.
With Steve Severin's pulsating bass supplying most of the song's energy, McGeoch was free to add spacey, echoey notes that set up the haunting atmosphere that provides the perfect musical backdrop for Siouxsie's ethereal and tortured singing. In this performance, however, McGeoch had left the band and Robert Smith of THE CURE was filling in.
Despite the title, the song has little to do with Israel, which seems to be included merely as a reference to the Christian religion, a bit like William Blake's poem "Jerusalem".
Lyrics:
Little orphans in the snow
with nowhere to call a home
start their singing, singing
Waiting through the summertime
to thaw your hearts in wintertime
That's why they're singing, singing
Waiting for a sign
to turn blood into wine
The sweet taste in your mouth
turned bitter in its glass
Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel
Shattered fragments of the past
meet in veins on the stained glass
like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
Now hidden in disguise
cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your heart alive
with a song from inside
Even though we're all alone
We are never on our own
When we're singing, singing
There's a man who's looking in
and he smiles a toothless grin
because he's singing, singing
See some people shine with glee
but their song is jealousy
their hate is clanging, maddening
In Israel
will they sing Happy Noel
Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel
In Israel
will they sing Happy Noel
With Steve Severin's pulsating bass supplying most of the song's energy, McGeoch was free to add spacey, echoey notes that set up the haunting atmosphere that provides the perfect musical backdrop for Siouxsie's ethereal and tortured singing. In this performance, however, McGeoch had left the band and Robert Smith of THE CURE was filling in.
Despite the title, the song has little to do with Israel, which seems to be included merely as a reference to the Christian religion, a bit like William Blake's poem "Jerusalem".
Lyrics:
Little orphans in the snow
with nowhere to call a home
start their singing, singing
Waiting through the summertime
to thaw your hearts in wintertime
That's why they're singing, singing
Waiting for a sign
to turn blood into wine
The sweet taste in your mouth
turned bitter in its glass
Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel
Shattered fragments of the past
meet in veins on the stained glass
like the lifeline in your palm
Red and green reflects the scene
of a long forgotten dream
There were princes and there were kings
Now hidden in disguise
cheap wrappings of lies
Keep your heart alive
with a song from inside
Even though we're all alone
We are never on our own
When we're singing, singing
There's a man who's looking in
and he smiles a toothless grin
because he's singing, singing
See some people shine with glee
but their song is jealousy
their hate is clanging, maddening
In Israel
will they sing Happy Noel
Israel, in Israel
Israel, in Israel
In Israel
will they sing Happy Noel
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