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Teapacks' on stage singing "Push the Button"
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| By israelinsider staff March 1, 2007 |
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Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said Thursday that they might ban Israel's entry, the band Teapacks' song "Push the Button", because of what they called its "inappropriate" political message.
The song, which was to be performed at the contest in Helsinki in May, overwhelmingly won Israel's competition Wednesday.
Sung in English, French and Hebrew, it seems to hint at Iran's nuclear ambitions and its hard-line leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The song warns about the dangers of nuclear war, and the lyrics of the song refer to demonic and crazy rulers, and say that "he's gonna blow us up to ... kingdom come."
Click here for the official Israeli Eurovision Web site. The song can be seen and heard by clicking on the circle on the left side of the website or the camera icon.
"It's absolutely clear that this kind of message is not appropriate for the competition," said Kjell Ekholm, a contest organizer. "We'll have all the delegation leaders here in Helsinki next week, and I'm sure we'll talk about this case within the EBU [European Broadcasting Union] group."
Lead singer Kobi Oz said in response, according to YnetNews: "I'm not worked up over the issue, because I know our song is not political. What caught the eye were the words 'crazy leaders' -- they decided to interpret them as though they referred to Ahmadinejad. I'm convinced that others will [think the song may] refer to our leaders.
Oz added that "the song is about the state of humanity in general, whereby a minority has access to excessive power. The song could be about the terror in Russia or Spain, or the violence on the streets of England or London."
"Our way of dealing with terror it to laugh in its face. I think the Europeans should adopt this approach as well."
According to Teapacks, the thing that caught their eye was the lyric which refers to "crazy rulers." Band leader Kobi Oz said he was convinced others would attribute the line to Israel's leaders, and thinks all the commotion "is great?as long as they let us sing the song in the end."
Oz added that he planned to continue preparing for the contest as long as he didn't receive official notice from Eurovision not to. "I'm not concerned by the whole deal because I know that the song is apolitical?the song is really universal."
Teapacks insists that the song is something people everywhere can relate to.
Israel Radio DJ Benny Dudkevitch told The Jerusalem Post that in his view "Teapacks may have not necessarily be the best choice for Eurovision, but the song is certainly an Israeli one ... with a very catchy chorus."
English Lyrics and music by Teapacks' Kobi Oz:
The world is full of terror
If someone makes an error
He's gonna blow us up to biddy biddy kingdom come
There are some crazy rulers they hide and try to fool us
With demonic, technologic willingness to harm
They're gonna push the button
push the button push the bu push the bu push the button
And I don't want to die
I want to see the flowers bloom
Don't want a go kaput kaboom
And I don't want to cry
I wanna have a lot of fun
Just sitting in the sun
But nevertheless
He's gonna push the button push the button push the bu push the bu push the button... |
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