Gana el Hawa

Love Has Come Our Way

This page contains a translation into English of the lyrics to the popular Egyptian song Gana el Hawa, which was sung by Abdel Halim Hafez. The song became a hit in 1969, when it appeared in the Egyptian movie Abi Foq al-Shagara (My Father Is Up a Tree.) This was Abdel Halim Hafez's final movie. The movie was immensely popular, lingering on theater screens for 36 weeks, making it second in popularity only to the 1972 movie Khally Balak Men Zouzou (Pay Heed to Zouzou).

The plot of the movie centers around a wholesome young man named Adel (Abdel Halim Hafez) who is lured by a nightclub dancer named Ferdous (Nadia Lotfi) into a dark world of gambling, alcohol, smoking, and sex. As they have their affair, he falls in love with her, leaving his former friends feeling disgusted with him. When one of his friends comes to the nightclub to confront him, he defiantly professes his love for her. Immediately after this scene, Adel sings "Gana el Hawa" as he and Ferdous enjoy a trip to Beirut together and cavort in the waves. Abdel Halim Hafez is considered one of the four legendary singers of Egypt. The others are Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Oum Kalthoum, and Farid al-Atrache.

Listen to Clips of this Song

See a Clip of Abdel Halim Hafez Singing It

Lyrics

Love has come our way Love's thrown a net our way That dark eyelash, there Caught us in love's snare Love caught us, and we got sleepy The one who caught us can set us free My love is on my mind Oh boy… on my mind You cast me in your eyes' sea Tell me where you're leading me To a new wound, or sighing, or to joy are we heading? Why do I ask in perplexity? One day soon, I'll see Let's keep going our way Love caught us and we got sleepy The one who caught us can set us free My love is on my mind Oh boy… on my mind Cross with us, yearning Land us on the shore of longing My life's with her, we're in love. My life's with her, with her We're in love Breeze, our footsteps decorate Stars, us do embrace Take us far away on our own Cast us away… Oh love Oh love cast us away Please, passion, don't hurt us, one day Bring us closer, don't separate With our loved ones, our souls, elate If yearning has us in its control Give comfort to our soul Let's keep going our way Love caught us and we got sleepy The one who caught us can set us free My love is on my mind Oh boy… on my mind

Where to Get Recordings of this Song

There are many CD's containing recordings of Abdel Halim Hafez singin this song. One of them is titled Gana il Hawa Live/Maddah el Amar. <==Click here to order from Amazon.com in the U.S. Price shown in U.S. dollars. <==Click here to order from Amazon.ca in Canada. Price shown in Canadian dollars.

Acknowledgements

This translation comes from the English subtitles of the DVD edition of the movie Abi Foq al-Shagara (My Father Is on the Tree). It is sold on a number of web sites, including www.fineartfilm.com and www.aramovies.com