Wahdun

"El bousta-البوسطة "

Arabic:

موعود بعيونك أنا، موعود

وشو قطعت كرمالن ضيع، وجرود

انتِ، انتِ، انتِ عيونك سود ومنّك عارفة

شو بيعملوا فيّي العيون السود

موعود...موعود

عهدير البوسطة، ال-كانت ناقلتنا
من ضيعة حملايا على ضيعة تنّورين
اتذكّرتك يا عليا، واتذكّرت عيونك
يخرب بيت عيونك يا عليا شو حلوين
نحنا كنّا طالعين، بهالشوب وفطسانين
واحد عم ياكل خسّ، وواحد عم ياكل تين
في واحد هوّ ومرتو، ولوه! شو بشعة مرتو
نيّالهن، ما أفضى بالهن، ركّاب تنّورين
مش عارفين عيونك يا عليا شو حلوين
نحنا كنّا طالعين، طالعين ومش دافعين
ساعة نهدّيلو الباب، وساعة نهدّي الركّاب
هيدا اللي هو ومرتو، عبّق وداخت مرتو
وحياتك كان بيتركها تطلع وحدا عتنّورين
لو بيشوف عيونك يا عليا شو حلوين
عهدير البوسطة يا معلّم، لو بتسكّر هالشباك يا معلّم
الهوا يا معلّم، رح يسفقنا الهوا يا معلّم

English: (literal)

I have promised your eyes to myself

And how many villages I have crossed for their sake, and highlands 

You have black eyes

And you don't know what black eyes do to me

Upon the rumble of the bus,

That was carrying us,

From the village of Hamlaya, to the village of Tannourine

I remembered you, O Alyah, and I remembered your eyes

Damn your eyes, O Alyah, how beautiful they are!

We were riding, in this heat, and dying

One guy's eating lettuce, another's eating figs

And there's one with his wife

Ouf, how ugly his wife is!

Lucky them, how empty their minds are, the passengers of Tannourine

They don't know, O Aaliyah, how beautiful your eyes are.

We were riding, riding without paying

One time, we held the door for the him

Another time, we calmed the passengers down

That guy who's with his wife, he heated up, and his wife got dizzy

I swear to you, he'd let her go up to Tannourine all alone,

If only he saw your eyes, O Aaliyah, how beatiful they are!

Upon the rumble of the bus, O workman, that was carrying us...

O workman, if only you'd shut that window.
The wind will hit us, O workman!

English: (Liberal)

I have promised myself with your eyes

I crossed many villages and highlands to reach them

You have black eyes

And you don't know what black eyes do to me

Upon the rumble of the bus...

That was carrying us,

From the village of Hamlaya, to the village of Tannourine

I remembered you, O Alyah, and I remembered your eyes

Damn! How beautiful are your eyes, O Alyah!

We were riding, and the heat was deadly

One passenger was eating lettuce, another was eating figs.

There was a passenger with his wife. Ouf, how ugly she was!

Lucky them! They're so blithe, those Tannourine passengers...

Since they don't know how beautiful your eyes are, O Alyah.

We were riding, riding without paying...

Some times we had to hold on to the door,

At others, we had to calm the passengers down.

The passenger who's with his wife has heated up, and his wife got dizzy

I swear he'd let her go to Tannourine on her own,

If only he'd see your beautiful eyes, O Alyah.

Upon the rumble of the bus, O driver, that was carrying us...

O driver, if only you'd shut that window.

We will catch a cold, O driver!

Context:

When I was young, I always thought that this song was taken from a play or movie of Fairouz that I didn't know of. That's because she keeps evoking "Alyah", which is a girl's name. But in reality, the original song was featured in Ziad el Rahbani's 1978 play entitled: "Bel Nesbi La Boukra Shou?"(What about tomorrow?). The song, originally sang by Joseph Sakr, comes completely out of the play's context. One would imagine a girl named Alyah, a bus trip...But the play's real  settings are a small snack/pub in Beirut, before the civil war. Scene: Ramez (played by Joseph Sakr) is asked to entertain the customers of the pub and therefore sings this song.

In fact, the original song did not have the first couple of verses:

موعود بعيونك أنا، موعود

وشو قطعت كرمالن ضيع، وجرود

انتِ، انتِ، انتِ عيونك سود ومنّك عارفة

شو بيعملوا فيّي العيون السود

موعود...موعود

It seems Ziad tried to create a context for the version that was sung by Fairouz. 

Another story I came across while doing the research for this post, and thought is really nice and worth mentioning is the following: When Assi (Ziad el Rahbani's father and Fairouz's husband) heard "El bosta" for the first time, he said to his son:" What do you want? Give us the song, and take 500 L.L and and let's get this thing over with!" And it seems Ziad accepted the offer...And we therefore enjoy the beautiful song in Fairouz's voice.

The last bit of information I'd like to share with you is the geographic location of Hamlaya (page in Arabic) and Tannourine (page in Arabic). In the following map (original map taken from Here), I marked Hamlaya with a blue dot, and Tannourine with a red dot. (approximate locations + the dots do not reflect the sizes of the villages).

The following link takes you to 2 maps (in Arabic & in English), that can be enlarged upon a mouse click. They locate the two areas in more details: Here 
If you didn't like these maps, try this one: Here


Song: "El bousta" by Fairouz
Music & Lyrics: Ziad el Rahbani
Album: Wahdun & "Fairouz sings Ziad el Rahbani"
Video reference: Here

P.S: I have put the track "El bosta" as it appeared in the original album. However, and since this song is one of my personal favorites, please enjoy this play taken from the Olympia-Paris 1979 concert of Fairouz.

And here's the original song by the great Joseph Sakr: