i’ve got a feeling
shlomo halevi alkabetz, a sephardic kabbalist, in the 16th century, penned a love poem to the sabbath. the sabbath was a bride. his poem lecha dodi emerged to become liturgy for friday night shabbat services. to this day all over the world, every friday, lecha dodi is sung to welcome the sabbath.
lecha dodi’s translated lyrics include “let’s go, my beloved, to meet the bride, and let us welcome the presence of shabbat. ” wikipedia.org.
hundreds of years later, did a goth-post-punk-pop song channel this kabbalistic poem?
the accused song: “friday, i’m in love. ”
the accused band, “the cure,” with mr. robert smith penning the song.
as with some art pieces, perhaps you will have to squint a little to understand.
music writer jack whatley noted “it’s difficult to put your finger on it. you shouldn’t fall for it, but the likelihood is that whatever “the friday feeling” is, it infects you as the clock strikes 00:01 every week.” faroutmagazine.co.uk
mr. robert smith, the song’s author, noted ” when i came to do the words for it, i thought, why don’t i do a song about that friday feeling? it’s a thing you have at school, and lots of people work at jobs they don’t really enjoy. so that friday afternoon feeling is something you look forward to.” faroutmagazine.co.uk
he stated about the song that , “it’s so out of character – very optimistic and really out there in happy land. ” rollingstone. his inspiration was that he “met the others in the group outside this pub near the studios, and it was a friday afternoon,” “i’d been thinking, ‘has anyone ever done the days of the week?’ i felt really good about [the idea], and i wrote this song on the journey.” rollingstone
the song’s lyrics include ” i don’t care if monday’s blue, tuesday’s gray and wednesday too
thursday i don’t care about you, it’s friday, i’m in love.” musixmatch
the original days of the week story, not song, was in the book of genesis and it detailed god’s daily creation of the world. the story’s culmination was a day of rest, the sabbath. the ten commandments codified the sabbath. through the ten commandments, and the continuous sabbath observance over the millennia, societies both anticipate and take joy in the week ending. this anticipation and joy has turned into almost a universal love of the sabbath. thus, it can be argued that mr. robert smith, in song, tapped into the same love that shlomo halevi expressed some four hundred years prior.
be well!!
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