“Sonyetshka” A Humorous Russian-Yiddish Song Performed by Feigl Yudin

This is the third and, for the time being, the final song performed by Feigl Yudin at the 1978 Balkan Arts Center (now Center for Traditional Music and Dance) concert at Webster Hall that we will place on the Yiddish Song of the Week blog.

A Russian-Yiddish song that derives its humor from the exaggerated mixture of the two languages. It thereby pokes fun at the Russification of the Jews at the time. The line about only knowing “loshn-koydesh” (the “sacred tongue”, referring to rabbinical Hebrew-Aramaic) is an additional absurdity.

A similar song that mixes Russian and Yiddish to humorous effect is “A gut-morgn Feyge-Sose [or Soshe]” found in the Ruth Rubin collection, in the Mark Slobin/Moshe Bereovski collection Old Jewish Folk Music and elsewhere.

Thanks to Paula Teitelbaum, Yelena Shmulenson and Jason Roberts for the transcription of the Russian and the translation.

Sonyetshka na balkonie stayala, stayala
Dos kleyne shtibl shmirn.
Vdrug prikhodit milenki
Zavyot myenya shpatsirn.

Ya shpatsirn nye paydu; Bo mama budyet shrayen
A papa budyet shlogn..
A yesli ya shpatsirn poydu,
Vos-zhe latytn zogn?

 Kak ty bez sovyestnaya Sonya!
Nyeuzheli ty baishsya za laytn?
Vykhadi ty Sonyetshka,
 My budyem fin der vaytn.

Na ulitse idyot a regn, a regn.
A regn’t nas bagisn.
Vykhadi ty Sonyetshka,
Mir’n a por verter shmisn.

Ya po yevreyski nye gavaryu,
Tol’ko loshn koydesh
Idi, idi, moy milyenki
Tol’ko na adin khoydesh.

Sonye on the balcony, stood, stood
And wipes [or paints] the small house/room.
All of a sudden, my beloved enters.
He invites me to take a walk.

I’ll not go walking, because mother will yell.
And father will beat me.
And if I go walking
What will people say?

How shameless you are Sonye.
Are you afraid of people?
Come out Sonyetchke
We will see each other from a distance.

On the street it rains and rains
A rain makes everything wet.
Come out Sonyetchke;
We’ll exchange a few words.

I don’t speak Jewish
Only loshn-koydesh.*
Go, go my beloved
But only for one month.

“Vi sheyn s’iz itstert di pagode” Performed by Feigl Yudin

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

This week we feature another track of Feigl Yudin recorded in a 1978 concert presented by the Balkan Arts Center (now Center for Traditional Music and Dance, Ethel Raim provides the introduction). Vi sheyn s’iz itstert di pagode (How beautiful is now the weather) is another lyric love song by Feigl Yudin, this time in the voice of the man. I have yet to find other variants.

Today the term “cavalier” sounds old-fashioned, but it is often found in Yiddish folksong to denote suitor, gentleman, boyfriend. The admission that he cannot write is a rare one in Yiddish song, since most males had at least a rudimentary Jewish education and could read and write.

Feigl sings “Der ponim” instead of the standard “Dos ponim”, which reflects her Grodno dialect.

Vi sheyn s’iz itstert di pagode,
Es tsit mayn harts mit libe tsu dir.
Du kum tsu mir mayn Khaye- Soshe [Shoshe]
Vayl ikh bin der shenster kavalir.

Khaye-Shoshe, di zogst ikh hob a feler.
Hob ikh oykh a sredstve tsu dem.
Ikh vel zikh koyfn a brivn-shteler,
Un vel zikh oyslernen shraybn fun dem.

Oy dayne oygn vi tsvey brilyantn
vi di shtern shaynen zey.
Volt shtendik veln in zey kukn
un shtendik shpiglen zikh in zey.

Oy dayn heldzl vi alabaster
un dayne lokn iz tayerer fun gelt.
un dayne tseyndlekh vi vayse perl
un dayn ponim’z der shenster af der velt.

How beautiful is now the weather.
With love my heart is drawn to you.
Come to me my Khaye-Soshe [Shoshe]
Because I am the most handsome cavalier.

Khaye-Soshe, you say I have a fault.
So I have a remedy for that.
I will buy a handbook of sample letters,
and will learn to write from it.

O, your eyes like two jewels,
like the stars they shine.
I would like to always look into them
and always look at my reflection.

O, your neck is like alabaster
and your locks are more dear than money,
and your teeth like white pearls
and your face is the most beautiful in the world.