Erev Sof Horef - The Story Behind the Song
- gidilin220
- May 9
- 4 min read
2016 was a tough year for me - shortly after a divorce, having to move home, rebuilding many aspects of my life and identity.
I was involved in a relationship back then. She was a good and kind person.
I remember one evening - my partner and I were sitting at home, having dinner, watching the '95 movie Blue in the Face. But then something struck me. I think I had been aware of it all along, but hadn't been able to face it: despite the warmth and kindness between us, despite the physical closeness and the comfort it gave me, I felt emotionally far apart. I could feel my loneliness. And hers too.
Was it a compromise? An unspoken agreement between two people to ease an emotional void?
The following morning, she left after breakfast. I sat in my living room and read.
I came across a paragraph from a song by my friend, the poet Mati Shemoelof:
"בגידה היא כניעה כואבת ליופי / ככל שתתנגד אליה, היא תכער לך את הנשמה / כמה יפים היינו בים של התמימות, העור המתוח והזקוף של הנעורים / והיום השמחה האמיתית היא החרטה" // מתי שמואלוף
"Betrayal is a painful surrender to beauty / The more you resist it, the more it hollows your soul / How beautiful we were in the sea of innocence, the taut and upright skin of youth / And today, the only true happiness is remorse." // Mati Shemoelof
Sitting there that morning, those lines made me think about self-betrayal. About what I miss, what I truly yearn for. And that idea - that remorse might be the only source of happiness still left for us to hold onto - struck me somewhere deep.
So I wrote Erev Sof Horef that same morning - describing the evening before, the living room, the dinner, the film, the distance - and in a way, writing it as my own reply to Mati's song.
Ten years later, I am in a different place, more truthful, and there's a small anecdote that closes this circle nicely. When the song came out, Mati was one of the first to hear it. He loved the song and made his own version of it - just him, a guitar, singing it in that one-of-a-kind way of his. He filmed it and sent it to me. It was a gesture that touched me more than I can really explain.
The Cold European Sun
There's something about late winter in Europe that captures that feeling. The sun is out - bright, even blinding - but it doesn't warm you. It's beautiful and cold at the same time. All that light, and still you're freezing.
That image became the emotional core of Erev Sof Horef - Eve of the End of Winter. A man waking up to re-member how much he yearns. For what, exactly? I leave that open for the listeners to fill in that blank for themselves.
The Lyrics
ערב סוף חורף
ישבנו שותקים בסלון,
עשן כחול, לבן עמום
רעשים מהרחוב, דפיקות סכין חותך על קרש
גזרי חציל ושאר ירקות, המחבת לוחשת,
סיר מכוסה, חצוצרה עם סורדינה,
רדיו מנגן, בחרש
אירופה, ערב סוף חורף,
וכאילו השמש, לבנה וקרה
אדם מתעורר, נזכר עד כמה הוא כמה
נימים של רגש כמו גבעולים, פריסקופ של צוללת
העור קפוא והלב הומה
היא הביאה קפה שקנתה ביוון,
אז הדלקתי קומקום, והדלקתי סיגריה
הבאתי שני ספלים לסלון וצפינו ב- "Blue in the face"
הוא טוב, היא אמרה, מ-95', לא ידעתי אם התכוונה לקפה או לסרט,
לעצמי עוד חשבתי - איך הזמן בונה והורס
אירופה, ערב סוף חורף,
וכאילו השמש, לבנה וקרה
אדם מתעורר, נזכר עד כמה הוא כמה
נימים של רגש כמו גבעולים, פריסקופ של צוללת
העור קפוא והלב הומה
מילים ולחן: גידי פרחי
Translation to English:
We sat silent in the living room, blue smoke, dim white / Noises from the street, the chop of a knife on a board / Slices of eggplant and other greens, on a whispering pan / A covered pot, a muted trumpet, a radio playing, softly.
Europe, late winter evening / and as if the sun - white and cold / A man wakes up, remembering how much he yearns / Tendrils of emotion like stalks, a submarine’s periscope / The skin is frozen, and the heart is humming.
She brought coffee she bought in Greece / So I boiled the kettle, and lit a cigarette / I brought two cups to the room and we watched "Blue in the Face." / "It’s good," she said, "from ’95." I didn’t know if she meant the coffee or the film / To myself, I just thought - how time builds and destroys.
Europe, late winter evening / and as if the sun - white and cold / A man wakes up, remembering how much he yearns / Tendrils of emotion like stalks, a submarine’s periscope / The skin is frozen, and the heart is humming.
Lyrics & Music: Gidi Farhi
The Studio Session
Around April 2025 we recorded a live studio version of the song with the band at The Famous Gold Watch Studios in Berlin. Danielle Friedman on piano, Nishad Pandey on guitar, Jooel Jons on drums and me on Bass.
The live version in the video is different from the album version. The Album Version includes Steve Schofield on Saxophone and Ingo Gabriel on Trumpet.
The Reception
The response to the song moved me in ways I didn't expect.
What touched me most was hearing that people felt the story. As if they were with me in the room that evening in 2016.
Some who passed through a separation shared that the song touched a familiar and soft soft in their own experience.
A German friend used the word Sehnsucht to describe what she felt when she listened to the song for the first time - before he even knew what the lyrics were about. That feeling of deep longing, of yearning for something you can't quite name.
And here comes a word of respect to the musicians I played with - most of them don't understand the language I sang in. Before we played it together, I read them a translation of the lyrics. And they just got it right.
That, for me, is what music is supposed to do.
What's Next
The second single from the Album is coming in just a few days. I'm excited about this one - in a different way. More soon. - Gidi
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