[1][2] Dror Yikra was written in 960 CE in Córdoba[1] by the poet, linguist, and musician Dunash ben Labrat, who is said to have been born in Fez but moved to Spain after a period of study in Baghdad under the rabbinic scholar Saadia Gaon.
[3] According to the ArtScroll Siddur, "Dror Yikra" is "a plea to God to protect Israel, destroy its oppressors, and bring it peace and redemption.
1100 is grafted from another of Dunash's poems, beginning "דלה שובב" and found in MS 27200, AIU H133, and some Geniza fragments.
[5] One Geniza fragment includes four stanzas of Devai Haser, then verses 2,3,1, and 4 (in that order) of Dror Yikra, but these are properly separate piyyutim.
שְׁעֵה שַׁוְעַת בַּת עַמִּי. And a sign of salvation, make for me, Plant a vine within my vineyard, Attend the cry of my fair people!
שְׁמַע קוֹלִי בְּיוֹם אֶקְרָא. and a press in once-strong Edom,[c] Smash my enemies in anger and fury,[d] Hear my cry when I call!
נְטֵה שָׁלוֹם כְּמֵי נָהָר. Fir, acacia, myrtle, elm, And to the leader and the led, spread peace like the river waters.
Grant identifies three structural properties that suggest a synthesis of traditional and novel forms: the rhyme ending repeating four times in each stanza recalls a pattern commonly found in early Hebrew liturgical poetry; the acrostic manifestation of the author's name is similarly characteristic of an ancient tradition; the carefully measured meter, however, was unprecedented in the annals of Hebrew poetry.
[23] "Dror Yikra" is often sung to the tune of Simon & Garfunkel's "Scarborough Fair" and the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B.
"[24] The song has been covered extensively by various Israeli artists, among them the Parvarim, Yaffa Yarkoni, Bo'az Shar'abi, and Ofra Haza.