Friday, January 27, 2012

Rocket Mole

Shalom, chaverim! Since arriving in Nahariya, we have made it a point to have "Reshet Gimel" playing on the radio during the day. "Reshet Gimel" is one of the radio stations of the Israeli Broadcasting Authority, and its mandate is to play only music by Israelis. (You can hear it on the internet at www.iba.org.il.) Israeli music is wildly eclectic, and one of the shows on Reshet Gimel features multiple Israeli cover versions of the same song, one after another. Believe me, you ain't heard nothing until you've heard "Viva Las Vegas" sung in Hebrew, three times in a row, by three different singers!

Since I can't read Hebrew functionally (yet), I spend lots of time listening closely to Hebrew song lyrics. Hearing cover versions of songs I know is actually very helpful, because the essence of the song is translated into fairly simple language. So it was with great amusement that one morning, I heard the Beatles' song "Yesterday" in Hebrew. The first line, "yesterday..." was translated (phonetically) into Hebrew as "Rak etmol," or "Just yesterday," to make the line scan correctly. But to my uneducated ears, what it sounded like was "Rocket Mole!"

Much hilarity has ensued since that fateful day, with Elul and I collaborating to compose stupid, scatological, alternative English lyrics to our own song of "Rocket Mole." So far we have this:

Rocket Mole,
He is eating from the toilet bowl,
Will he chew or will he eat it whole?
Oh Rocket Mole, you troubled soul!

As a former teacher (ahem), I realize the educational importance of providing visual aids to an audience. So I searched and searched on Google for an image of a mole on a rocket, but astonishingly, nothing like it has yet been uploaded. (I did see plenty of pictures of basal cell carcinomas though...yuck!) Therefore, I extend my thanks to the websites http://www.howtodrawanimals.net  for instructions on mole drawing, and http://how-do-draw-funny-cartoons.com for instructions on how to draw a rocket.

Not clever enough to figure out the "fancy" way to draw the two items as one image, I just drew them both on separate pieces of paper, cut the mole out with my cuticle scissors (ouch!), and superimposed the mole on the rocket. I was going to glue it, but then I realized my glue was still wending its way across the Atlantic in our lift.  To make it even fancier, because our printer/scanner is also in our lift, I just took a photo of the picture!

Rocket Mole...The Troubled Soul. This image will stick with you for life!

As usual, if you can't see the picture, go directly to my blog's site at www.movingtonahariya.blogspot.com . And if you have suggestions for additional "Rocket Mole" verses, feel free to comment...I'd love to hear them! Shabbat shalom, everyone!


10 comments:

  1. OK, guys,i am going to stop writing these before i hurt myself. THanks for the fun challenge.

    Miss you!
    Betti (Adams or Boom Bah)

    Rocket Mole
    I bet Paul McCartney’s eyes would roll
    If he saw the lyrics on your scroll
    His soulful song, is now so droll

    Rocket Mole
    I’ve now spent an hour on this goal
    Of my schedule l’ve lost control
    Because your blog is so “gadol” (I learned a Hebrew slang word!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Betti Boom Bah, where were you when we needed you? Those lyrics are fantastic! So much more sophisticated and classy...my mind is thoroughly affixed at the 3rd grade level of finding great joy in fart and poop jokes!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nah, please please don't stop with the toilet humor, i love that,too and can get right into it with you! I just didnt want to be a copycat. I actually got a laugh (to myself) thinking of you and Lew (Elul)writing the toilet lyrics. Maybe i didnt get to know you well enough but you seemed like the epitome of class and sophistication (in a friendly way).

    B B B

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hope all is well...
    Stu K

    Rocket Mole
    He went sliding down a fire pole
    To the hook and ladder he did crawl
    Oh Rocket Mole
    You rescued all

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'll probably lose some points on these because the vowel changes, but things are tough all over... I feel like I'm in high school English class and the assignment is to write Haiku...just a different rhythm. See what you guys started? :) Stu

    Rocket Mole
    Started reading from a Torah scroll
    Reads the Torah like yeshiva boy
    He's Rocket Mole, our pride and joy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Love it! Particularly "Rocket Mole" with "Torah scroll!" :)

      Delete
  6. Elul here,

    Rocket Mole
    He is staring at a football goal
    Will he kick the football through the hole?
    Oh I have faith in Rocket Mole.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Rocket Mole
    He played golf and made in one a hole
    For a golfer that's a lifetime goal
    Say mazel tov to Rocket Mole

    and another

    Rocket Mole
    Down a bowling alley he did roll
    A custom rodent-fitted bowling ball
    A strike he scored, free drinks for all!

    Stu

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading my blog. I am interested in your comments, but I will delete anything that is either spam or just plain nasty. Please do not use the comments forum as a political or religious soapbox--there are SO many other online forums for those kinds of tedious arguments!