The Old Man with the Cane: Faris Karam

This is one of my favorite Arabic songs and Faris Karam is one of my favorite singers. He's Lebanese and this song has a lot of words that someone who only studied MSA wouldn't know, so insha'allah you'll learn some new words.



ضيق لبسك ما عندك أوسع منه
Your clothes are tight! Don't you have any looser ones?

تلت رباعة ولاد الحي فيك جنوا
3/4 of the boys in the neighborhood are crazy about you
تلت رباعة - three fourths
فيك جنوا - literally "in you they go crazy"

ختيار على العكازة عنت ع باله الجازة
The old man on the cane is thinking about marriage
ختيار - "old guy"
عكازة - cane
عنت ع باله - means the same thing as خطر ع باله. It "came to his mind" or "occurred to him"
الجازة - marriage

طفل اللي حاملته أمه يكاغي أسمك ع تمه
The child being carried by his mom babbles your name
يكاغي - means to "goo goo gaa gaa" or "speak like a baby"
تم - mouth

عجبت خيه سحرت بيه ودوبت عمه
His (the baby's) brother likes you, you enchanted his father, and you melted his uncle
خي - is how you say أخ (brother) in Lebanese
سحر - to enchant
بي - is اب (dad)
دوب - is ذوب (melt)

هاي دي يقلك يقبرني هاي دي يصفر ويغني
This one says "bury me", and this one whistles and sings
هاي دي - this one
يقبرني - literally "bury me", basically like saying "I'd die for you"

وتلاميذ المدارس ولا واحد فيهم دارس
And not one of the students at school are studying

أنت مرقت سرقت حرقت الاخضر واليابس
You passed by, stole, and burned the green and the earth
مرق - means "passed" it's the same thing as مر in MSA
سرق - stole
حرق - burned
الأخضر و اليابس - By "green" it means "plant life", and يابس is anything dry which means "the ground". Basically with this line he's saying that she turns everything upside down when she walks by.

غيرت عملت عجقة سير ع المفارق ع المفارق
You turned and caused a pile up at the intersection
عجقة سير - means a backup or clogging of traffic
ع - in Lebanese they use this sometimes instead of على

عالم تسأل بعضا مين يلي مارق
Everyone is asking each other "who passed by"
بعض - this word is used to mean "each other" here. If you say مع بعض it means "together".
يلي - means which. It's the same as الذي and التي in MSA
مارق - is the فاعل form of مرق which means "to pass by"

بوليس اللي ع الاشارة ولعت بقلبه نارة
Fire has welled up in the heart of the policeman at the stoplight
الاشارة - means "stoplight"
ولع - means "to burst into flames"

سيارات يمشيهم عكس السير يوديهم
He is sending cars against the traffic
تمشى and ودى - mean the same thing, "to send"
عكس - opposite
السير - the traffic

عم يطلع فيك أنت ومش سائل فيهم
He's looking at you and not caring about them
عم - turns the verb into an "-ing" verb, so it makes "look", "looking"
يطلع - look
سائل - "to care about" or "be concerned with"

واللي شعراته شابه يتحسر ع شبابه
And the one who is old is longing for his youth
شعرات - feelings
شايب - to get old
تحسر - to long for
شباب - youth

واللي من مرته خايف يعمل حاله مش شايف
And the one who is scared of his wife pretends that he isn't looking
مرته - his wife
خايف - scared
يعمل حاله - literally "does his condition", but that doesn't makes sense. It means to "make himself" or "pretend" here.

قلبه دايب مثل الحمرة اللي فوق الشفايف
His heart is melting like the lipstick on your lips
الحمرة - lipstick
شفايف - lips

تتمشي مثل الغزلان دادي دادي
You walk like the gazelle
دادي - means how gazelles walk, like stepping lightly

ويزم عليك الفسطان شوية زيادة
And your dress scoots up just a little bit
يزم - "to raise" or "scoot up"
شوية - a little bit

وبخصرك لما تموجي مثل الطفل الغنوجي
And when you wiggle your hips you're like a pampered child
خصر - the mid section of the body
لما - whenever. It's the same as عندما in MSA
تموجي - to wave like a wave. موج means wave
غنوجي - spoiled or pampered

ختيار يجن جنونه ويدبلك بعيونه
The old man is going crazy and flirts with you with his eyes
يدبلك بعيونه - like when a girl bats her eyelashes at a guy or when a guy looks at a girl like he "wants some"

أنا خايف يوقع ع الارض وعكازه يخونه
I'm scared that he'll fall on the ground and his cane will betray him
يخونه - it will betray him.

النسوان اللي حواليك يحكوا بالهمس عليك
The women that are around you talk in whispers about you

واللي تشوفك قبالها تخبي منك رجالها
And whoever sees you coming hides her husband from you

و رفيقتها من غيرتها راح تقتل حالها
And her friend is going to kill herself from jealousy
غيرة - jealousy
حالها - herself