The sound “dickey dickey dickey” is just really pleasant to say out loud as abstract gibberish, dum ba dum joo joo dickey dickey shi shi (دقي “diqy” happens to be the Arabic word for playing and instrument, and its main meaning is to beat). That’s probably the reason the song Diqy al-rebaba, composed by Lebanese singer Samir Yazbeck in 1970, has been popular for audiences of foreign languages (cf. a Japanese belly dancing performance to the song). It’s been sung in Arabic with Greek (ΤΙΚΙ ΤΙΚΙ ΓΙΑΡΑΠΑΠΑ) and in Arabic with Serbo-Croat (using Balkan Brass). Dickey dickey dickey is just really nice to say, in any language.
دقّي دقّي دقّي يا ربابة
Play, play, play the rebab (fiddle)
دقّي ع فراق الحبابا
Play about the separation of lovers
دقّي دقّي دقّي يا ربابة
Play, play, play the rebab
دقّي ع فراق الحبابا
Play about the separation of lovers
بعد ما راحوا وغابوا
After they have left and vanished
ورّثوا بقلبي العذابا
They left my tortured heart
آه دقّي دقّي دقّي دقّي
Oh play play play
دقّي دقّي يا ربابة
Play, play, play the rebab
يمّه يمّه هيه
عيني ما حبّت سواهم
My eyes (I) did not like (to see) them together
قلبي ما بعمره سلاهم
My heart did not ever neglect them
آه شيّبوني في هواهم
Oh they’ve made me white-haired with their love
وانا بعزّ الشبابا
And I am in the prime of youth
آه دقّي دقّي دقّي دقّي
Oh play play play
دقّي دقّي يا ربابة
Play, play, play the rebab
قدر الله يا حبايب
God determined, oh my loves
تهجروا نبع الأطايب
Nice things fly away and set forth
آه قلبي يسأل ع اللي غايب
Oh my heart asks for the one who is gone
ما تردون الجوابا
They do not answer me back
آه دقّي دقّي دقّي دقّي
Oh play play play
دقّي دقّي يا ربابة
Play, play, play the rebab
