Manger’s Eynzam/Lonesome (The Chernovitz Version)
Recorded and sung by Beyle Schachter-Gottesman, 1970s.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
February 21, 2019 marked fifty years since the passing of the Yiddish poet Itzik Manger. He was born in Chernovitz (then Austria-Hungry) in 1901 and died in Gedera, Israel in 1969.
To honor this date, I found a recording of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (my mother) singing Manger’s song Eynzam(Keyner veyst nisht vos ikh vil) with a different melody than is most commonly sung. Unfortunately, she is interrupted before the end of the song, and does not complete it.
My mother told me that when she sang the song once at a gathering in New York, Yetta Bickel, wife of the critic Shloyme Bickel, said to her “that is the melody of the song that Itzik Manger himself had sung in Romania.”
Attached are scans of the words with the more commonly heard melody as found in the Mir trogn a gezang song collection compiled by Eleanor (Chana) Gordon Mlotek, NY 1972, pages 162-163. This includes transliteration and lyrics in Yiddish.
I have not yet found another recording of this Chernovitz version.
The singer Janie Respitz is a Yiddish educator and singer from Montreal. Janie incorporates her singing in her lectures and shares her passion and knowledge of Yiddish folklore with her concert audiences.
As she states at the beginning of this video-recording made in Montreal, July 2017, she learned Berl der alter shiker (Berl the Old Drunk) from the late Max Satin, a resident in the Jewish Geriatric Hospital in Montreal.
Berl der alter shiker is similar to a previous post Shtey ikh mir in ayn vinkele sung by Itka Factorovich Sol. Respitz’s song is closer to the version found in Skuditski 1936 Monopol, monopol (scan of page attached) but the drunk does not have the conversation with the moon.
In his article Geyt a yid in shenkl arayn: Yiddish Songs of Drunkeness (Field of Yiddish: Fifth Collection, 1993), Robert A. Rothstein analyzes versions of the song and points out that the verse about the wife drinking the whiskey all up is from Velvl Zbarzher’s poem Der shiker (The Drunk) found in his Makel No’am מקל נועם Vol. 3, Lemberg 1873. Shmuel-Zanvil Pipe also pointed this out in YIVO-bleter, 1939 (vol. 14: 339-667) Perhaps we should consider the whole text a folklorized Zbarzher song?
TRANSLITERATION / TRANSLATION
“Hi, I’m Jamie Respitz. I learn this from the late Max Satin, a resident in the Jewish Geriatric Hospital, here in Montreal a number of years ago.”
Fun zint der monopol iz af der velt
bin ikh af im in kas.
Es kost mikh op a mayontik mit gelt
un ikh trink azoy vi fun a fas.
Ikh nem dos fleshele in mayne hent
un ikh klap dem koretsl aroys,
tsebrekht zikh dos fleshele in mayne hent
un der bronfn gist aroys.
Ay-ay-day-day….
Haynt vel ikh mit mayn vaybele zikh tsekrign
Zi vet nokh hobn tsu gedenken.
Vifl mol ikh hob ir shoyn farshvign.
Haynt vel ikh ir nisht shenken.
Kh’ob genumen dos fleshele mit bronfn.
Geleygt hob im tsukopns.
Se khapt zikh oyf di ployneste baynakht,
un zi trinkt es oys bizn letstn tropn.
Ay-ay-day-day
Oy vey, reboyne-shel-oylem.
Du bist dokh a hartsiker rikhter.
Zol shtendik regenen mit bronfn un mit bir.
Ikh vil keyn mol nisht zayn nikhter.
Af mayn keyver zol zayn ongegosn.
Mit bronfn un mit bir.
Dos iz bay mir der iker.
Un af mayn matseyve zol sshteyn ongeshribn –
“do ligt Berl der alter shiker.”
Ay-day-day…
do ligt Berl der alter shiker.
Since the “monopol” [Czarist controlled liquor stores/pubs] is in the world
I am angry at it.
It costs me a fortune of money
and I drink as if from a barrel.
I take the bottle in my hand
and knock the cork out.
The bottle breaks in my hand
and the whiskey pours out.
Ay-day-day…
Today I will argue with my wife.
She will have what to remember [she will pay for it]
So many times I have told her to shut up
Today I will not spare her.
I took the bottle of booze
Put it at my head.
My wife wakes up at night
and drinks it all to the last drop.
Ay-day-day
O Master of the universe
you are a compassionate judge.
Let it always rain whiskey and beer
So I won’t ever have to be sober.
On my grave let them pour
whiskey and beer,
and on my gravestone it should be written –
“Here lay Berl the old drunk.”
Ay-day-day
Der freylekher kaptsn (The Happy Poor Man) is an upbeat song I recorded from Jacob Gorelik in 1985 in New York City. The song follows the alef-beys for 23 verses. Der freylekher kaptsn is also known as Der freylekher khosid and Hop-tshik-tshak, which is a dance or dance step.
Jacob Gorelik sings at the Sholem-Aleichem Center with
Dr. Joshua Fishman sitting next to him (Bronx, 1980s)
As he says in his spoken introduction, Jacob Gorelik sent this song to the Israeli folklore journal Yeda-Am and it was printed in 1967 (Vol. 12 no 31-32) with the music. Attached are scans of those pages which include the Yiddish verses, a Hebrew translation and a brief commentary (in Hebrew) by the editor on the song at the end which includes references to other versions of the song found in other song collections. When he sang this for me Gorelik was reading the lyrics from the journal.
Gorelik also pointed out the similarity in melody to Khanele lernt loshn-koydesh (words by A. Almi), a song that was later recorded by Chava Alberstein and the Klezmatics among others.
The verse that corresponds to the letter ע begins with the word “helft” – because, as Gorelik explained, in the Ukrainian Yiddish dialect the “h” sound at the beginning of the word is often silent.
A humorous parody of the song about kibbutz life was collected and published by Menashe Gefen in issue 3-4, 1972, of the Israeli periodical מאסף, Measaf. Two scans of that are attached as are two scans of the version collected by I. L. Cahan and included in his 1912 publication Yidishe folkslider mit melodyen.
Thanks this week for help with the blog go to Paula Teitelbaum, Psoy Korolenko and Facebook friends
Gorelik speaks:
Lekoved mayn tayern gast, Itzikn, vel ikh zingen a folklid, an alte, alte folklid – “Der freylekher kaptsn”. Un es geyt in gantsn loytn alef-beys. Du veyst kaptsonim zenen ale mol freylekhe. Gehert hob ikh dos mit etlekhe tsendlik yor tsurik fun mayn froys a shvoger: Hershl Landsman. In Amerike hot gebitn – in Amerike tut men ale mol baytn – gebitn dem nomen af London. Far zikh, far di kinder, zey zoln kenen vern doktoyrim.
Un er hot es gehert baym onfang fun tsvantsikstn yorhundert. Hershl iz shoyn nito; lomir im take dermonen. Landsman is shoyn nito. Zayn froy iz nito shoyn. Mayn eygene tayere froy iz shoyn nito.
Der freylekher kaptsn. Es geyt loytn alef-beys. Gedrukt iz dos in Yeda-Am. Flegt aroysgeyn in Yisrol a vikhtiker zhurnal, a folklor-zhurnal. Unter der redaktsye fun Yom-Tov Levinsky, 1967 iz der zhurnal aroys, der numer.
א Ikh bin mir a khosidl, a freylekhe briye. Bin ikh mir a khosidl, on a shum pniye. Bin ikh mir a khosidl, a khosidak. Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ב Borves gey ikh mit hoyle pyates. Fun oyvn biz arop mit gole lates; Bin ikh mir a lustiker a freylekher bosyak Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ג Gole lekher iz mayn kapote fun oybn viz arop mit shvartser blote; Tu ikh mir on fun eybn dem yarmak. Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ד Der dales iz bay mir afn pritsishn oyfn. Der kop tut vey fun dem arumloyfn; kh’loyf un loyf azoy vi a durak. Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ה Hering mit broyt iz bay mir a maykhl, abi ikh shtop zikh on dem baykh. un kartofles far a pitak. Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ו Ver s’geyt in mayn veg, der vet hobn gute teg; in a bisl bronfn gefin ikh nit keyn brak; Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ז Zingen, zing ikh af mayn gorgl un shpiln, shpil ikh af mayn orgl. Bin ikh mir a khosidl, a spivak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ח Khotsh ikh bin mir horbevate un dertsu nokh stulovate; A bisl bronfn nem ikh mir geshmak Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ט Toybenyu, mayn vayb zogt tsu mir: nito af shabes, vey tsu dir; leydik iz mayn keshene, nito keyn pitak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
י Yontif iz bay mir di beste tsayt, tsu antloyfn fun der klipe – vayt; un makh ikh dort a koyse mit dem knak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
כּ Koshere kinderlekh, a ful getselt, hungerike tsingelekh aroysgeshtelt. Esn viln zey gants geshmak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ל Loyfn, loyf ikh af di piates, vayl shikh zaynen gole lates. Ikh loyf un loyf vi a bosyak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
מ Mirenyu, mayn tokhter, zi zogt tsu mir: ven met kumen di nekhome af mir? Gib mir a khosn mit a kurtsn pidzak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
נ Nekhome, mayne, zog ikh tsu ir: Du vest nokh heysn mitn nomen – shnir. Dayn shviger vet zayn a groyser shlak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ס S’hoybt nor on tog tsu vern, heybn zikh on di kinderlekh iberklern; un kalt iz zey gants geshmak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ע Elft mir kinder zmires zingen, vet ir zayn bay mir voyle yingen; shenken vel ikh aykh a pitak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
פּ Peysekh kumt, bin ikh mir freylekh, mayn vayb a malke un ikh a meylekh. Matsos hobn mir a fuln zak; Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
צ Tsadikim, rebeyim, veysn aleyn, az s’iz nit gut tsu zayn gemeyn; tsores faran in a fuler zak, tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ק Kinder mayne, hob ikh gezogt: haynt iz simkhes-toyre, nit gezorgt; A koyse veln mir makhn gants geshmak; Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ר Royzenyu, mayn tokhter, zogt tsu mir: kh’hob a man, iz er gerotn in dir: er git mir nit af shabes afile keyn pitak; Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
ש Shoyn Purim iz do, a yontif bay mir, Ikh trog shalekh-mones fun tir tsu tir. Khap ikh a trunk bronfn gants geshmak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
תּ Tomid freylekh, nit gezorgt, Nor layen, nor geborgt. un in keshene iz nito keyn pitak, Tants ikh mir a freylekhn hop-tshik-tshak!
In honor of my dear guest, Itzik, I will sing the folksong, an old, old folksong “The Happy Poor man”. It goes according to the alphabet. You know poor people are always happy. I heard this a few decades ago from my brother-in-law Hershl Landsman. In American he changed – In America one is always changing – In America he changed his name to London; for his sake, for his children, so that they can become doctors.
And he heard it at the beginning of the 20th century. Hershl is no longer here; his wife is no longer here. My dear wife is no longer here.
“The Happy Poor Man”. It goes according to the alphabet. It was published in Yeda-Am, that used to be published in Israel: a folklore journal, an important journal, edited by Yom-Tov Lewinsky. In 1967 this issue was published.
א
I am a khosid, a happy creature.
I am a khosid, with no bias.
I am a khosid, a khosidak [humorous form of khosid]
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ב
I go around barefoot with bare soles.
Up and down I’m full of patches.
I’m happy-go-lucky, cheerful and barefoot
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ג
My kaftan is full of holes
from top to bottom full of mud.
So I put on my overcoat
and I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak.
ד
I treat poverty as if it were nobility,
my head hurts from all my running around.
I run and run as an fool,
so I dance a joyous hip-tshik-tshak.
ה
Herring with bread is a real treat
as long as I can stuff up my tummy,
with potatoes for a penny.
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ו
Whoever goes in my path
will enjoy good days.
In a little whiskey I find nothing to waste;
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ז
I sing with my throat
and play on my organ.
So I am a khosid, a singer.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ח
Though I am a hunchback
and I slouch a little too, I take a nice swig of whiskey.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ט
Toybeynyu, my wife says to me:
We have nothing for sabbath, woe is me.
Empty is my pocket with no penny.
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak.
י
Holidays are the best time for me,
to escape far from my shrewish wife.
And I drink a shot with real snap.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
כּ
Observant children – I have a tent full;
their hungry tongues sticking out.
They really want to eat a lot.
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ל
I run on my soles
because my shoes are all patched up.
I run and run like a barefoot man,
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
מ
Mirenyu, my daughter, says to me:
when will I get some relief?
Give me a groom with a short jacket.
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
נ
“My solace”, I say to her:
“You will yet one day be called ‘daughter-in-law’.
Your mother-in-law will be big nuisance.”
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ס
As soon as the day breaks,
my children start to consider their state:
and they are so very cold.
So I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ע
If you help me children to sing zmires you will be good kids.
I will give as a tip, a coin.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
פּ
When Passover comes I am happy:
my wife is a queen and I a king.
We have a full sack of matzoh
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
צ
Holy rabbis, Rebbes, know already
that it’s not good to be vulgar.
We have a sack full of troubles.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ק
My children, I said,
today is Simkhes-Torah, don’t worry.
We will all down a good drink,
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ר
Rose, my daughter, says to me.
I have a husband just like you.
He doesn’t give me a penny for the Sabbath
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ש
Purim is already here, a real holiday for me,
I carry shalekh-mones from door to door.
I take a quick swig of whiskey, really fine.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
ת
Always joyous, never worried,
Always borrowing, always mooching,
And in my pocket not a penny.
And I dance a joyous hop-tshik-tshak!
Hosti Beyle gitn meyd? (Beyle, Do You Have Good Mead?)
A Yiddish Kolomeyke
Performance by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman
Recorded by Leybl Kahn, Bronx, NY, 1954
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW) introduces this song as a children’s song, and it seems that a number of her children’s songs are adapted dance tunes either from Jewish or Ukrainian melodies. In this case one can easily identify the melody as a kolomeyke*, a couples dance from Ukraine/Eastern Poland/Galicia, referring to the Ukrainian city known as “Kolomey” in Yiddish, and “Kolomyia” in Ukrainian.
“Kolomeyka” 1895 by Teodor Axentowicz (1859 – 1938)
In the Yiddish song collection Yiddish Folksongs From Galicia in the volume Folklore Research Center Studies, Volume 2 (Jerusalem: 1971) devoted to the work of folklorist Shmuel-Zaynvil Pipe, and edited by Dov and Meir Noy, a variant and its melody is included (song #51, please see below). In the notes (p. 308), Meir Noy lists the other printed variants of this song in other collections and comments that the melody is a kolomeyka.
I had always thought that this song was tsvey-taytshik, with many double entendres, and considering the fact that a kolomeyke was a couples dance that made sense. So I was rather surprised to find it in a collection of Hasidic Yiddish songs entitled: קונטרס: אגרא דבי הילולא מילי: חרוזים חשובים מדור הישן There is no place of publication (I bought it in Williamsburg, Brooklyn) but it is dated 1996. They conclude the volume with this version of “Hosti Beyle” attributed to the Ropshitser Rebbe תנועה מהרה”ק מראפשיץ זי״ע
How the Ropshitser Rebbe interpreted this song would be interesting. In both Pipe’s version and the Ropshitser’s version they use the word “heyber” instead of LSW’s “eyber.” “Heyber” (handle/lever) makes more sense.
*Musically a kolomeyke is characterized by symmetric phrases with running 16th notes followed by two quarter notes. Here is a kolomeyke that bears my name “Icek W. Kolomej” (Itzik in Kolomey) from “Polish Village Music”, Arhoolie 1995, CD7031. Played by Orkiestra Majkuta.
Lifshe (spoken): A kinderlid. Lifshe: (spoken) A children’s song.
Hosti Beyle gitn meyd? Na zhe dir deym [h]eyber. Vi’sti meynen s’iz shoyn shpet, S’iz ersht tsvelef a zeyger.
Do you have good mead, Beyle? Then give me the lever [or handle]. You want to think it’s late – But it’s only 12 o’clock.
Researching “Cabaret Warsaw,” a cd of music created and performed by Jews in Warsaw between the wars, I was pointed to a 1929 book called “35 letste teatr lider fun Azazel un Sambatiyon” (Azazel and Sambatiyon being two kleynkunst venues popular at the time). I found the book at Brooklyn’s Chasidic “Library Of Agudas,” along with six tiny books of theater songs and monologues (lyrics only) published in 1933 and 1934 by bookseller and record shop owner Itzik Zhelonek (Zielonek). I decided to track down the melodies for as many of these songs as possible (for more information click here); Itzik Gottesman sent me a version of one of them sung by Jacob Gorelik – this week’s Yiddish Song of the Week, known as “Dos fleshl” (the bottle) or “Tshort vos’mi” (The Devil Take’s It).
Gorelik learned the song from a guy in Central Park – back when it was a place people went to “sing and play” (he contrasted that to its present reputation as a place to buy drugs). He didn’t know the man, or where the song came from, but he said it shares its melody with the Russian song “Kare Glaski” (“Brown Eyes,” see Russian lyrics below).
The words Gorelik sang were quite different from the lyric printed in “35 letste teatr lider” (texts to both versions are below). Sometimes singers “folk process” what they’ve heard, or they forget the words and re-imagine them from scratch.
Here is the song as sung by Jacob Gorelik, recorded in his NYC apartment, 1985, by Itzik Gottesman:
Gorelik’s spoken introduction, transcribed and translated by Itzik Gottesman:
A special genre of songs are about drunks. Because, basically, the background of every drunk is a sad one: a person is not born drunk – troubles, bad habits, bad family; the father was a drunk. And here we have a song of a drunk, and he tells us, more or less, of his life. I don‘t know the father, the mother [of the song]; I don‘t know who wrote the song and who created the melody. Possibly it‘s an old theater song, very possiblew but it has the taste of a folksong. I heard it my first years in America in Central Park. I lived then at 110th street, near the park. And in those years the park was not just a place to sell drugs, or for other deviates. The park was the for the youth. We came and sang, played, sang. We were not afraid. We even slept there till 2:00 at night near the reservoir. And there I heard someone sing this song of a drunk. I don‘t remember his name.
The song of a drunk – ‘Tshort Voz’mi’, which means – The Devil Take It. Gorelik’s version, transcribed and translated by Jane Peppler:
Yo, hob ikh in der velt alts farlorn
A yosim geblibn bin ikh fri
Mayne fraynt hob ikh, hob ikh shoyn lang farlorn
Mayn fraynt iz nor dos fleshl, tshort voz’mi
I’ve lost everything in this world,
I was orphaned at an early age.
I lost my friends long ago,
Only my bottle is my friend
The devil take it.
Ikh hob a mol a nomen gehat
azoy vi di greste aristokrasi
un haynt hob ikh im shoyn lang fargesn
vi ruft men mikh, freg baym fleshl, tshort voz’mi
I used to have a name like the great aristocrats
Now I’ve forgotten my former reputation,
What people call me now, ask the bottle
The devil take it.
Ikh hob a mol a heym gehat
Ergets vayt, ikh veys nisht vu
Haynt gey ikh arum na venad
Vu iz mayn heym?
Freg baym fleshl, tshort voz’mi
I used to have a home somewhere
Far away, I don’t know where.
Now I go around without a homeland.
Where is my home? Ask the bottle.
The devil take it.
Ikh hob a mol a gelibte gehat
Iz zi dokh tsu a tsveytn avek
Un haynt hob ikh fil, un lib nisht keyner
Mayn gelibte iz nor dos fleshl, tshort voz’mi
I used to have a sweetheart,
She’s left me for someone else.
And now I have so much, but I don’t love anybody
My sweetheart? Just this bottle.
The devil take it.
Here is the text printed in the 1929 collection:
Geven bin ikh a mentsh eyner
Bakant geven in der gantser velt
Haynt iz far mir alesding farlorn
Tsulib dir, mayn fleshele, okh! Tshort vosmi!
I used to be well known in the whole world
Now everything is lost to me because of you, my bottle,
The devil take it
Gehat hob ikh a kale Gitele
Antlofn iz zi, der tayvl veyst vu
Zi hot mir geton mayn lebn derkutshen
Tsulib dir, mayn fleshele, okh! tshort vosmi!
I had a bride, Gitele,
She’s run away, the devil knows where
She tormented my life thanks to you, my bottle
The devil take it
Men varft mir shteyner nokh in di gasn
“Shlogt im!” shrayt men, “dem bosyak.”
Zogt mir, menshn, farvos tut ir mikh hasn?
Tsulib dir, mayn fleshele, okh! Tshort vozmi!
People throw stones at me in the street.
“Hit that bum,” they cry,
Tell me, people, why do you hate me?
Because of you, my little bottle,
Oh, the devil take it.
Vu iz mayn foter? Vu iz mayn muter?
Vu iz mayn heymat, zogt mir vu?
Fun vandern iz mir shoyn mayn lebn farmiest
Tsulib dir, mayn fleshele, okh! Tsort vozmi!
Where is my father? My mother?
My homeland? Tell me, where?
My life is ruined by wandering,
Because of you, my little bottle
The devil take it.
S’vert mir erger in di letste tsaytn
Kh’bin shoyn alt un krank un farshmakht
Un, ikh shtarb avek, mayne libe laytn,
durkh dir, mayn fleshele, oy, a gute nakht!
Lately things have gotten worse for me,
I’m old and sick and languishing
I’m dying, my dear people,
Because of you, my little bottle,
oy, good night!
Yiddish text – Gorelik’s version:
Карие глазки (Brown Eyes)
Карие глазки, где вы скрылись.
Мне вас больше не видать.
Куда вы скрылись, запропали,
Навек заставили страдать.
Выньте сердце, положите
На серебряный поднос.
Вы возьмите, отнесите
Сердце другу, пока спит.
I recorded Ikh vel nit ganvenen (I Will Not Steal) in Mogilev, Belarus, from Sterna Gorodetskaya, born in 1946 into the only Jewish family that got reunited after the war in the village of Komintern, a Mogilev suburb.
Photograph of Sterna Gorodetskaya by Dmitri Slepovitch
Sterna is also the aunt of Yuri Gorodetsky, a noticeable young opera singer who was for while involved performing Yiddish songs and cantorial pieces in Minsk, taking part in Jewish cultural revivalist movement there.
It was amazing to hear this song from a person of Sterna’s generation. She sang the song to me in memory of her mother, and that was the first time she performed it since she was a child.
To realize why it is so unique in that context, it is important to mention that unlike Moldova or Ukraine where the Jewish tradition was preserved to a considerable extent throughout the Soviet times, Belarus saw a much more powerful wave of assimilation, including the loss of the Yiddish language, in the post-war time. Most of the songs sung to us in the course of our fieldwork had been hidden in people’s memory for decades.
The song per se adds to a number of other “thief’s songs.” Chaim Kotylanski included two similar songs in his book, “Folks-Gezangen as Interpreted by Chaim Kotylanski,” Los Angeles, 1944. The lyrics of one, Nisht ganvenen nor nemen, resemble Sterna Gorodetskaya’s version in the chorus (compare: “Kholile nisht ganvenen, nor nemen, nor nemen”), though it employs a dance-like or march-like melody set in a major key. The other song, Kh’vel shoyn mer nisht ganvenen, is closer melodically to Sterna’s, as both are set in the natural minor. In “Pearls of Yiddish Song” published by Chana and Yosl Mlotek there is yet another variant of ‘Kh’vel shoyn mer nit ganvenen.
My trip to Mogilev in January 2008 was the first one to follow the untimely death of Nina Stepanskaya (1954—2007), my professor and colleague with whom I collaborated over a decade on the Litvak music culture research in Belarus. Like Sterna Gorodetskaya who sang this song in memory of her mother, I would like this posting to be a tribute to and a small sign of appreciation of Nina’s invaluable input into Jewish music studies.
Ikh vel gegayen in krom keyfn irisn
Un az ikh hob dikh lib, iz ver darf dos visn?
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, ikh vel aleyn nemen,
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, nemen aleyn.
I will go to the store to buy some candies, And whilst I love you, who should know about that? I will not steal, I will only take. Oh I will not steal, I’ll only take.
Ikh vel gegayen in mark keyfn bar(u)n,
Un az ikh hob dikh lib, iz vemen darf dos arn?
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, ikh vel aleyn nemen,
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, nemen aleyn.
I will go to the market to buy some pears, And while I love you, whom should it bother? I will not steal, I will only take. Oh I will not steal, I’ll only take.
Ikh af a shif un du af a lodke,
Un ikh mit a tsveytn un du in chakhotke.
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, ikh vel aleyn nemen,
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, nemen aleyn.
I’m on a ship and you’re on a boat, I’m with a buddy and you have consumption. I will not steal, I will only take. Oh I will not steal, I’ll only take.
Ganvenen, ganvenen, zol dos nit zayn iker,
Un nemen a bisele mashke un take nit zayn shiker.
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, ikh vel aleyn nemen,
Oy ikh val nit ganvenen, nemen aleyn.
Stealing oh stealing should not be the principle, As it should be to have brandy and not to get drunk. I will not steal, I will only take. Oh I will not steal, I’ll only take.
To honor this date, I found a recording of Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (my mother) singing Manger’s song Eynzam (Keyner veyst nisht vos ikh vil) with a different melody than is most commonly sung. Unfortunately, she is interrupted before the end of the song, and does not complete it.
Yiddish Song of the Week 