Well, it's actually 'no salaam, no shalom'; 'salaam' being the Arabic for 'peace' and 'shalom' being the Hebrew. It's a pretty Revelations-esque line, and probably isn't Cash's take on Middle East politics, rather a more general and poetic statement about there being no peace till the Messiah comes. Although it might seem like a throwaway line, it's actually rather beautiful; highlighting the immensely ironic fact that the word for 'peace' is so similar in the languages of two cultures that have historically had such great differences.

The two words are often elegantly placed side by side in music with a pro-peace message - the Israeli folk song 'Od yavo shalom aleinu' ('Peace will come upon us') does the same, to name but one example.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.