THE LEVEE'S GONNA BREAK If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break Everybody saying this is a day only the Lord could make IF IT KEEP ON RAININ' (if the war between the Israelis and Palestinians continues - D to E: RAIN - war, destruction. In the liner notes to THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN Zimmerman wrote, "it was as though the rains of wartime had left the land bombed out an' shattered") THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK (the concrete security barrier constructed by Israel to keep out terrorists will be useless levee: a barrier constructed to keep something out) EVERYBODY SAYING THIS IS A DAY ONLY THE LORD COULD MAKE (Zimmerman uses day in the sense of period of prominence. Zimmerman believes that the State of Israel, now in its heyday, should exist ONLY when THE LORD sends the Messiah, the Moshiach to the Jewish people. “And HaShem your G-d will bring you to the land your fathers inhabited and you shall inhabit it, and He will be good to you and you will increase even more than your fathers” - Deuteronomy 30. Could Zimmerman be in agreement with my cousin, Rabbi Mordechi Weberman, that the existence of the current State of Israel is standing in the way of both the Messiah coming and the Day of Redemption arriving so - the Zionist illegitimate "State of Israel" must be totally anulled?) Well, I worked on the levee, Mama, both night and day I worked on the levee, Mama, both night and day I got to the river and I threw my clothes away WELL, I WORKED ON THE LEVEE, MAMA, BOTH NIGHT AND DAY (I worked continuously at keeping out the Egyptians, Syrians, Palestinians and others from crossing the 1948 borders of the State of Israel during numerous wars) I GOT TO THE RIVER (when Israel reached the Jordan River during the Six Day War of 1967) I THREW MY CLOTHES AWAY (Israel discarded its wordy declarations that it had no intention of expanding its borders and it annexed the West Bank of the River Jordan. D to E: CLOTHES - words as in "he clothed his meaning") I paid my time and now I'm good as new, I paid my time and now I'm as good as new. They can't take me back unless I want 'em to I PAID MY TIME (I performed my compulsory service in the Israeli Defense Forces) AND NOW I'M GOOD AS NEW (although as a settler I knew that I was being used by the Israeli Government) THEY CAN'T TAKE ME BACK (the Israeli authorities cannot force the Settlers back behind the Green Line, to the pre-1967 borders of Israel) UNLESS I WANT 'EM TO (because I will use the knowledge I acquired in the IDF and forcibly resist).
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break Some of these people gonna strip you of all they can take IF IT KEEP ON RAININ', THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK SOME OF THESE PEOPLE GONNA STRIP (take away possessions from someone; "The Nazis stripped the Jews of all their assets") YOU OF ALL THEY CAN TAKE (of your home, farms, factories after Israel and the West Bank becomes Palestine and the Jews are finally driven into the sea as Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdel Nassar threatened to do in 1956) I can't stop here I ain't ready to unload I can't stop here I ain't ready to unload Riches and salvation can be waiting behind the next bend in the road I CAN'T STOP HERE I AIN'T READY TO UNLOAD (I cannot leave the occupied territories and I am definitely not ready to unload - disarm, take the bullets out of my weapon. Additionally in From A Buick Six Zimmerman wrote, "I need a dumptruck baby to UNLOAD my head" using the word in the sense of "to relieve from anything onerous." The settlers are incapable of leaving the West Bank; a move that would get them out of a potentially deadly situation) RICHES (an abundance of land, the rich, fertile soil of Judea and Samaria) AND SALVATION (sarcastic: saving someone from harm) CAN BE WAITING BEHIND THE NEXT BEND IN THE ROAD (sardonic: Note Zimmerman's use of BEHIND rather than AFTER. This is a reference to settlers being ambushed by terrorists as they travel through the occupied West Bank) I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get I picked you up from the gutter and this is the thanks I get You say you want me to quit ya, I told ya, 'No, not just yet.' I PICKED YOU UP FROM THE GUTTER (I raised the standard of living of West Bank Arabs! Gutter: to cut or form into small longitudinal hollows; to channel - Shakespeare. Using this definition GUTTER represents a Wadi - a gully or streambed in Israel or in its territories that remains dry except during rainy season. The Jewish Settlers tend to live on hilltops while the indigenous population most often lives in the valleys where the Wadis are prevalent) AND THIS IS THE THANKS I GET? (and you try to kill me and my family and friends as I travel through Judea and Samaria?) YOU SAY YOU WANT ME TO QUIT YA (you say you want end the occupation and settlement of the West Bank) I TOLD YA, 'NO, NOT JUST YET.' (not until I repay you for the bloodshed you have caused, probably never). Well, I look in your eyes, I see nobody other than me I look in your eyes, I see nobody other than me I see all that I am and all I hope to be
WELL, I LOOK IN YOUR EYES I SEE NOBODY OTHER THAN ME (when I look into the settlers' thoughts about the future I see an Israel that contains no one other than Jews like myself - Zimmerman is a Jew named Zimmerman - as the Israeli Arabs and the West Bank Palestinians have been expelled. Many of the settlers are followers of Rabbi Meyer Kahane the former leader of Israel’s radical Kach party. Kahane advocated the forcible expulsion of all Arabs from Israel, the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza territories, and the unrestricted building of Jewish settlements. In 1971 Zimmerman wrote Rabbi Kahane a check for several thousand dollars, despite my having warned him against doing so) I SEE ALL THAT I AM AND ALL I HOPE TO BE (sarcastic; Zimmerman wants nothing more to do with the Kahanists) If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break Some of these people don't know which road to take IF IT KEEP ON RAININ', THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK / SOME OF THESE PEOPLE (some of "these people" - some of the Jews - namely the Israeli Settlers and their allies in the Knesset such as the former Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu) DON'T KNOW WHICH ROAD TO TAKE (are more interested in taking the road to war than the road to peace which was called Performance-Based Roadmap to a Permanent Two-State Solution to the IsraeliPalestinian Conflict. When I'm with you, I forget I was ever blue When I'm with you, I forget I was ever blue Without you there's no meaning in anything I do WHEN I'M WITH YOU, I FORGET I WAS EVER BLUE (D to E: BLUE - Honest, loyal as in "true blue." In Hard Rain Zimmerman asked rhetorically, "Where have you been my blue-eyed son?") WITHOUT YOU THERE'S NO MEANING IN ANYTHING I DO (sarcastic - there was no higher purpose in expelling Palestinians from their land) Some people on the road carryin' everything that they own Some people on the road carryin' everything they own Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones SOME PEOPLE ON THE ROAD CARRYIN' EVERYTHING THAT THEY OWN (the Palestinian refugees on their way to Gaza and other destinations in 1948 carrying all their possessions with them after being chased out at gunpoint by the Haganah and Irgun militias) SOME PEOPLE GOT BARELY ENOUGH SKIN TO COVER THEIR BONES (many of the Jews who forced the Palestinians to leave Palestine and fought in the 1948 War Of Independence were death camp survivors who had become emaciated from the systematic starvation that was the first part of the Nazis "final solution to the Jewish question." Ironically, like the Palestinians, these Jews had also been uprooted from their homes. In Chronicles Zimmerman said essentially the
same thing about why Israel came into being, "The State of Israel claimed the right to act as heir and executor of all who perished in the final solution. The [Adolf Eichmann] trial reminds the whole world of what led to the formation of the Israeli state.") Put on your camp clothes, mama, put on your evening dress Put on your cat clothes, mama, put on your evening dress Few more years of hard work, then there'll be a 1,000 years of happiness PUT ON YOUR CAMP (the lyrics here most often read CAT CLOTHES rather than CAMP CLOTHES as there is a Carl Perkins song titled Put Your Cat Clothes On. I hear Robert Allen Zimmerman sing CAMP CLOTHES once then sing CAT CLOTHES. Robert Allen Zimmerman is masking this word due to the sensitivity some people have when it comes to concentration camps) PUT ON YOUR CAMP CLOTHES, MAMA (camp clothes are a prisoner’s uniform - a textile design consisting of lines or bands against a plain background as in those worn by death camp inmates. D to E: CLOTHES - words. What Zimmerman is saying here is bring up the Holocaust again and again in order to justify your own Nazi-like actions and use this to raise money from rich American Jews) PUT ON YOUR EVENING (D to E: EVENING just before a decline, such as "the 2006 signaled the evening of Jews in Gaza") DRESS (D to E: DRESS - way of preparing something for market, embellish, hype. Also EVENING DRESS as formal attire worn to a fundraiser for Israel) FEW MORE YEARS OF HARD WORK (a few more years of oppressing the Palestinians in a Nazi-like fashion and raising money in America to finance it. Note: NOT ENOUGH SKIN TO COVER THEIR BONES and CAMP CLOTHES has Nazi connotations as does HARD WORK. One of the Nazi's slogan's was Freedom Through WORK originally in German: Arbeit Macht Frei. This motto above the main gate greeted all who entered the Auschwitz death camp during WWII) THEN THERE'LL BE A THOUSAND YEARS OF HAPPINESS (sarcastic: then you will hasten the arrival of the Messiah as the Settlers believe they are doing by living in Judea and Samaria. More Nazi connotations as the Third Reich was also referred to as the Thousand Year Reich as it was intended by Hitler to last a THOUSAND YEARS. Here Robert Allen Zimmerman is equating the Settlers and other rightwing Jews treatment of the Palestinians to the Nazis treatment of the Jews implying that Israel has become the new Nazi Germany. When I first heard PUT ON YOUR CAMP CLOTHES I thought to myself, Zimmerman has become a singing Professor Norman Finkelstein, author of THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY: REFLECTIONS ON THE EXPLOITATION OF JEWISH SUFFERING. Finkelstein claims that the Holocaust is being used by racist Jews to justify their presence in Palestine and to oppress Arabs. In a December 2001 speech in Beirut, Lebanon, Finkelstein compared Israeli behavior to "Nazi practices" during World War II.) If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break I tried to get you to love me, but I won't repeat that mistake
IF IT KEEP ON RAININ', THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK / I TRIED TO GET YOU TO LOVE ME (I tried to get you to see my truth) BUT I WON'T REPEAT THAT MISTAKE (MISTAKE one thing for another; confuse Israel with anything but what it really is, a repressive settler state) If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break Plenty of cheap stuff out there and still around that you take IF IT KEEP ON RAININ', THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK / PLENTY OF CHEAP STUFF (low-priced or free land) OUT THERE (in the territories and around Jerusalem) AND STILL AROUND (Israel refused to declare a moratorium on new settlements in the West Bank) THAT YOU TAKE (that you can expropriate from its rightful owners) I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed I woke up this morning, butter and eggs in my bed I ain't got enough room to even raise my head. I WOKE UP THIS MORNING (the Jewish Settlers came to the realization) BUTTER (Jewish blood - on Under the Red Sky in Ten Thousand Men Zimmerman wrote, "Ten thousand men looking so lean [to have a tendency or disposition to do something; to be inclined] / and frail [having the attributes of base man as opposed to divine beings] / Each one of 'em got seven wives, each one of 'em just out of jail [they are Moslems - Islam allows up to four wives - and are Palestianian terrorists just freed from Israeli prisons] / Ten thousand women all sweepin' [violent and general destruction; as, the s weep of the intifada was far reaching] / my ROOM [a particular portion of space appropriated for occupancy, living space] / Spilling [to cause to flow out and be lost or wasted; to shed, or suffer to be shed, as in battle; as, a man spills another's blood] / my BUTTERMILK [Israeli blood, what is left over after an "extraction" performed by the Nazis] / sweeping it up [and the Israelis cleaning it up, winning an overwhelming victory] / with a BROOM [with a weapon])" The Levee's Gonna Break continues: AND EGGS (have egg on one's face colloquialism: made to look foolish - the settlers have Jewish blood on their hands and egg on their face) IN MY BED (because they have made their bed and have to lie in it - they to have to accept the disadvantages or problems that result from their own actions or past decisions) I AIN'T GOT ENOUGH ROOM (in Hitler's book Mein Kampf he made clear his belief that the German people needed Lebensraum - "living space", i.e. land - the settler's believe they don't have enough Lebensraum) TO EVEN RAISE MY HEAD (to be proud Jews - proud of acting like Nazis who occupied much of Europe.) Come back, baby, say we never more will part Come back, baby, say we never more will part Don't be a stranger with no brain or heart COME BACK, BABY, SAY WE NEVER MORE WILL PART (make something into two parts, "Moses parted the Red Sea" as the Settlers have done to Israel) DON'T BE A STRANGER (the Torah instructs Jews: “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a STRANGER in his land� Deuteronomy 23:8) D to E: STRANGER - alien, someone who does not belong in the West Bank) WITH NO BRAIN (common sense, survival instinct) OR HEART (or feeling for the inhabitants of the West Bank)
If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break If it keep on rainin', the levee gonna break Some people still sleepin', some people are wide awake IF IT KEEP ON RAININ', THE LEVEE GONNA BREAK / SOME PEOPLE STILL SLEEPIN' (D to E: SLEEPING - overly complacent) SOME PEOPLE ARE WIDE AWAKE (some people see the threat coming. Also in the settlements Shomrim stay awake all night watching for terrorists).