Push the Button (Teapacks song)
 "Push the Button" |
|
|---|---|
 |
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| Eurovision Song Contest 2007 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) |
Kobi Oz, Meir Amar,
Motti Yoseff, Rami Yosifov, Gal Peremen, Dani Aberjel |
| As | |
| Languages | |
| Composer(s) |
Kobi Oz
|
| Lyricist(s) |
Kobi Oz
|
| Finals performance | |
| Semi-final result |
24th
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| Semi-final points |
17
|
| Appearance chronology | |
| ◄ "Together We Are One" (2006) | |
| "The Fire in Your Eyes" (2008) ► | |
"Push the Button" was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English, French and Hebrew by Teapacks. This song was the first Israeli entry to feature lyrics in French, and thus the first to feature lyrics in any language but Hebrew and English. The entry won that representation by an absolute majority, winning the 20% televote, 20% SMS vote, 20% pre-vote and the 40% jury vote. Teapacks had been selected as the Israeli representative by the Israel Broadcasting Authority and invited to perform four songs at the national final to determine which one would be performed in Helsinki.
The song is an up-tempo number, featuring many changes in tempo and style. Lead singer Kobi Oz begins by singing in English over a steady accordion beat, explaining that "The world is full of terror" and singing about the risk posed by "some crazy rulers" who are bent on destruction. At this point, the song moves to the chorus, featuring a guitar riff and the repeated phrase "They're gonna push the button".
The second verse begins in a similar style to the first, with the exception that the lyrics are delivered in French. Oz sings that there is "too much violence" due to the fanatics he described earlier. The accordion beat is then replaced once again as Oz switches back to English to sing that he does not want to die and that "I wanna see the flowers bloom/Don't wanna go kaput kaboom" in a more dramatic manner. The chorus (complete with guitar riff) is then repeated (with "He's gonna..." instead of "They're gonna...").
Following the chorus, the song changes tempo entirely, as Oz begins to rap in Hebrew. He expands on his earlier description of the risk of fanaticism, describing a nightmarish situation in which nobody else seems aware of, or concerned about, what is happening. The tempo then switches back to the steady beat of the earlier verses, but with Oz still singing in Hebrew describing the people in his situation as "pawns". He switches further to his dramatic vocals, wondering if perhaps the song is altogether "too sharp", and suggesting that "We should sing palm tree songs, desert songs with no flags", referring to an older, romantic (and apolitical) style of Israeli song. The next line -- "Ani od khay, khay, khay" ("I'm still alive, alive, alive") -- is a direct quote of the hook from Israel's upbeat (and apolitical) second-place-winning 1983 Eurovision entry, "Khay". But this quote, exuberant and triumphant in Khay, here is (perhaps slyly) repurposed as just part of the nervous narrator's thought-- "I'm still alive, alive, alive" it begins, then concludes (no longer apolitical), "And if the situation remains as frightening as it has been, only then I will say / I'm gonna push the button" (i.e. "I'm gonna push the button" in the final chorus, a response to "They're gonna push the button" (in the first chorus) and "He's gonna push the button" (in the second chorus) ).
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