Ze Rak Sport
 "Ze Rak Sport" | |
|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 1992 entry | |
| Country | |
| Artist(s) | |
| Language | |
| Composer(s) |
Kobi Oshrat |
| Lyricist(s) | |
| Conductor |
Kobi Oshrat |
| Finals performance | |
| Final result |
6th |
| Final points |
85 |
| Appearance chronology | |
| ◄ "Kan" (1991) | |
| "Shiru" (1993) ► | |
"Ze Rak Sport" (Hebrew script: זה רק ספורט, English translation: "It's Just Sport") was the Israeli entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992, performed in Hebrew by Dafna Dekel.
The song is a moderately up-tempo number. Dekel sings about the fun aspect of singing and dancing, evidently in the Eurovision song contest.
The Lyrics of the song
According to the lyrics of the song, the narrator is a girl or a woman, who is describing herself as a prisoner of music and as addicted to the rhythm of the music. The narrator wishes to dance her troubles away, to sing into the dark and be plant the seeds of happiness.
In the second verse, the narrator approaches the listeners by saying: " I don't want to brag or to be condescending, i like the game and i feel comfortable singing carelessly with a guitarist, a drummer and a cheeky pianist and with one and only chance to reach for the sky".
In the chorus, the know-it-all narrator says: "if the girl wont play the game, she won't cry and want to die because its only sports, yhe its sport"
The song was originally 3 minutes and 17 seconds long but after a court battle with Dekel's runner up in the pre-selection show the writers of the song promised to cut out the 17 seconds. In the live version in Sweden Dekel sings the last chorus in English ("Viva sport"). That was the first attempt of Israel to sing in English in the Eurovision song contest.
The English version of the song is called "Viva Sport", and the lyrics are a salute to the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
At Eurovision
The song was performed third on the night of the Eurovision's final competition of 1992, following Belgium's Morgane with "Nous, on veut des violons" and preceding Turkey's Aylin Vatankoş with "Yaz bitti". In an interview that was conducted at the week of the competition, with the Israeli performer, Dafna Dekel she was asked what position does she want to get to and had answered "Somewhere between 5th and 7th". At the close of voting, the song received 85 points, placing it 6th out of 23.
It was succeeded as Israeli representative at the 1993 Contest by Sarah'le Sharon & The Shiru Group with "Shiru".