Songs of Our Life [Import]

Esther and Abi Ofarim | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 1998)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Universal/Polygram
• ASIN: B000008531
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #262,392 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Morning of My Life

2. Freight Train

3. Every Night

4. Le Deserteur (Monsieur le Président)

5. Lord of the Reedy River

6. Never Grow Old

7. Ma Omrot Einayich

8. Tomorrow Is a Long Time

9. Viva la Feria

10. What Have They Done to the Rain

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Cinderella Rockefella

2. Oh Babe You're Gonna Wonder

3. Bonnie Boat

4. Dirty Old Town

5. Drunten Im Tale (Down in the Valley)

6. Donna-Donna

7. Hora

8. That's My Song

9. Ack Värmeland, Du Sköna

10. Garden of My Home

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Traditional folk - sixties style, July 29, 2002

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Songs of Our Life (Audio CD)

It is always dangerous to judge anybody's music by one hit, however big, and Esther and Abi Ofarim prove that.

They were an Israeli couple who had a lot of success in Germany in the sixties with their traditional folk music (nicely updated for the sixties, without spoiling it), usually singing in English, but also in other languages. They sang a variety of songs from all over Europe, many of them obscure to me. They also recorded contemporary material, but even when they did, it sounds like traditional folk music.

So, you will find covers of two Bee Gees songs, the obscure Morning of my life (which is on their Best of volume 2) and the really obscure Garden of my home (which I've never heard before), along with Lord of the reedy river (Donovan), Tomorrow is a long time (Bob Dylan), Hush-a-bye, Tell it on the mountain (both Peter Paul and Mary), Dirty old town (Ewan McColl), What have they done to the rain, Freight train and Lonesome Traveller.

The song which they call Bonnie Boat is very famous, but not with that title. It is a traditional Scottish song which begins Speed bonnie boat like a bird on the wing ..... yes, it's really the Skye boat song.

Whatever success they had in Germany (and maybe other countries in mainland Europe), none of this made any impact in Britain. In 1968, they topped the British charts for a month with a novelty dance song called Cinderella Rockefella. A lot of people think this is truly awful, and I can see why, but it's OK by me. It's certainly not as bad as (say) Boom bang a bang (by Lulu, who's best music is pure magic) and it should not put you off buying this, because it's not like the other 35 tracks, which are sensational. It begins CD 2 so it's easy to skip if you wish to.

Esther does nearly all the singing and has a really lovely voice, well suited to the songs and the music. If you like traditional folk with a sixties feel, it doesn't come any better than this.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars multilingual feast, July 3, 2000

By 

carla (Port Townsend, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Songs of Our Life (Audio CD)

This CD is a wonderful collection of the music of the Ofarims-- a great selection of their multilingual hits that speak to everyone. Abi's guitar playing is fabulous and so is Esther's voice, they make these songs their own. Their style shows off these traditional folk songs at their best. A great first choice for anyone who may not be familiar with them but loves international folk music.

5.0 out of 5 stars Memories, December 30, 2011

By 

kewgdns - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Songs of Our Life (Audio CD)

Had this music on LP several years ago. The female singers voice is so poignant, good variety of world music. If you like music with feeling, this is for you.