NOTE: When I wrote and recorded this song it struck people as funny. Since the horrors that have unfolded since October 7, 2023, five weeks after the song’s release, nothing about the geopolitics of the Middle East is funny. But the message of the song remains valid: that grownups should learn how to share. So I leave the song available, hoping people will endorse that message.
HISTORY OF THE SONG: Upon learning that I was part Jewish, I was inspired to write this song in an effort to foment peace in the Middle East. (That obviously hasn’t worked.) I start with a soundscape that combines the shofars, the muezzin calls and the church bells that share the monotheistic airwaves in Jerusalem. Out of the din emerges an electro-swing mashup where klezmer meets big band, where dumbek and kick drum take turns laying down 4-on-the-floor. That’s Lawrence Feldman on clarinets. And btw, the real title for this song is “Location, Location, Location!”
Lyrics
Solomon, the Patriarch,
Built a temple for the ark.
Jerusalem was the site of his creation.
He could have built it anywhere.
So why’d he choose to put it there?
Location, location, location.
Jesus traveled far and wide,
But face it, getting crucified,
Then resurrecting, made his reputation.
And where’d the Romans do him in?
Same place where the temple’d been.
Location, location, location.
600 years go by
And an up-and-coming prophet
Takes a one-night trip to heaven
By stepping on a rock and launching off it.
It was a special very rock
Whose coordinates should not come as a shock.
So Islam goes and makes the site
A mega-shrine, like Mecca Lite!
A total top-to-bottom renovation.
They knew it was a crowded spot,
But they also knew the value of a hot
Location, location, location.
What’s so holy
About this lowly patch of real estate?
Is it the air?
Or all the prayer?
Or that it’s someplace you must share
With all those people that you hate?
Rome is cool and Istanbul
Is very, very meaningful,
But neither one has Jeri-Town’s vibration.
If your religion’s gonna count
You need a spot on Temple Mount.
Location, location, location.
200 stunning acres
With panoramic views.
It can be subdivided,
Which tenants often choose.
Historic landmarked buildings,
No ugly urban sprawl.
You got your Mount of Olives,
You got your Western Wall.
You got your mosque, Al-Aqsa.
On the Rock you got your Dome.
It’s the Navel of the World.
“If you lived here now you’d be home.”
Convenient to the Dead Sea.
20 K from Bethlehem.
If you’re a monotheist
Ya gotta love Jerusalem.
Ya gotta love Jerusalem.
Jerusa-rusa -rusa-rusa-rusa-rusalem.
That longitude and latitude
Of maximal beatitude.
Location, location, location.