by Slavs and Tatars
She's Armenian adapted from She's Maniac by Michael Sembello Young Kurds adapted from Young Turks by Rod Stewart Stuck in Ossetia with You adapted from Stuck in the Middle with You by Stealers Wheel Let's Call the Whole Thing Off adapted from the Gershwin original; Bonus: original version Rock the Casbah by The Clash
Hymns of No Resistance @ the KAAI Theater in the frame of the Spoken World Festival, 03 October 2009
photo copyright: Esther Eggeermont
SHE’S ARMENIAN
(based on Michael Sambello’s She’s a maniac, 1983)
Just a Christian girl living in Istanbul,
Leaving behind her entire life.
In the real time world no one sees her at all,
They all think she’s fakin’.
Takin’ the silver and leavin’ the rest,
Set to flee into the night.
She has danced into the danger zone,
Where minority’s never right.
She can picture the future,
When Armenians take the stage,
Like Agassi, Charles Aznavour, and Cher.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’s fleeing but the flight has just begun.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’ll fight ‘til the Hayastantsi are one.
Because the minority is something
Too many choose not to see.
It’s a hard won place of tragedy,
Touch it, but can’t hold it.
You run all your life from that moment in time,
It could come or pass you by.
Against the push of the Turks
There is always a chance,
If the diaspora thrives.
No retreat from recognition
Without conceding defeat.
She’s still a ‘hay, whether Parska- or Libana-.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’s fleeing but the flight has just begun.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’s fleeing but Karabagh will be won.
(instrumental break)
She can picture the future,
When Armenians take,
With Gurdjieff, Komitas, and Atom Egoyan.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’s fleeing but the fight has just begun.
She’s Armenian, Armenian on the run,
And she’ll fight until recognition is won.
performance Hymns of No Resistance @ the KAAI Theater, Brussels, 03. 10. 09.
photo copyright: Esther Eggeermont
