Een van de grootste hits van Siouxsie & The Banshees. Israel is nooit op een regulier album van de band verschenen, maar is wel terug te vinden op de compilatie Once Upon a Time: The Singles. De song is altijd een fan favourite geweest, met name vanwege het briljante arrangement en dito productie.
De song werd geschrteven na een bezoek van de band aan Israel. De tekst is lastig te interpreteren, maar lijkt o.a. te verwijzen naar de Holocaust en de Kristallnacht (shattered fragments of the past / Meet in veins on the stained glass). Israel is bedoeld als Kerstlied, maar moet volgens Siouxsie zelf zeker niet religieus geïnterpreteerd worden: “No it’s not about religion as such, it’s more general. A disillusioned person, or whole race who’ve ceased to understand or believe in what they held to be the truth. It tries to put across, you shouldn’t cover what you feel inside by teaching or attitudes imposed on you. It emphasises the strength of the individual.”
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 of 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
Hohhhh
Hohhhh
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?
In Israel
In Israel
Israel
In Israel
In Israel
Will they sing Happy Noel?
Uitgelichte afbeelding: By Polydor, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37660971
