“Ekh in mayn lyubitshke” Performed by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman

Ekh in mayn lyubitshke/I and My Darling
Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW], Recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954

Painting by Yosl Bergner (1920-2017) “The Wedding”

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman 

This song has the same melody as the folksong “Hot zikh mir di zip tsezipt” recorded by Ruth Rubin and can be heard as a field recording sung by her in the Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO.

The melody and text of “Hot zikh mir di zip tsezipt” is printed on p. 94, in the collection Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive. Scans of those pages are attached.

The melody also begins the “Rumshinsky Bulgar” recorded by a number of klezmer groups including Marilyn Lerner on her recording “Romanian Fantasy”

LSW’s daughter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman who heard the song from LSW many times, typed out the words in the 1970s and moved the first fragmented verse of LSW to the last verse. I suggest any singer of this song follow this change which makes sense logically: the couple are married at the end  

Thanks to Ruth Rubin Archive at YIVO, Christina Crowder, Josh Horowitz, Joel Rubin, Martin Schwartz and many others who pointed out similar variants.

Ekh in mayn lyubitshke/My Darling and I
[Ikh vel zayn dayn ]…tabele.      [This should be the last verse not the first] 
Gliklekh veln mir beyde zan. 
Az ekh vel zayn dayn vabele
un di vest zayn mayn tayerer man

[I will be your dear] dove.
How happy we will be,
When I am you dear wife
And you will be my dear husband.

Ikh un mayn lyubitshke; 
mayn mame in der mit.
Ikh vil mayn lyubitstshke.
Mayn mame vil zi nit.

I and my sweetheart;
my mother in the middle.
I want my sweetheart
My mother does not.

Her ikh nisht oys  
mayn mames reyd
Un nem mir mayn lyubitshke 
Vi’zoy zi shteyt un geyt.

I do not heed
what my mother says.
And I take my sweetheart
Just as she is.

Vayl gelt iz dokh kaylekhik
Un gelt geyt avek.
Nem ikh mir mayn lyubitshke
Un kh’fur mit ir avek.

Because money is round
And money rolls away.
So I take my sweetheart
And go away with her.

Ekh fur mit ir avek 
biz keyn odes.
Shtel mit ir a khipe 
s’gedoyert a mis-les

I go away with her
All the way to Odessa.
I stand under the khupe [wedding canopy] with her
in less than a day.

,[איך וועל זײַן דײַן] טײַבעלע
.גליקלעך וועלן מיר ביידע זײַן
אַז איך וועל זײַן דײַן ווײַבעלע
.און דו וועסט זײַן מײַן טײַערער מאַן

,איך און מײַן ליוביטשקע
.מײַן מאַמע אין דער מיט
.איך וויל מײַן ליוביטשקע
.מײַן מאַמע וויל זי ניט.

הער איך נישט אויס 
.מײַן מאַמעס רייד
און נעם מיר מײַן ליוביטשקע
.ווי’זוי זי שטייט און גייט

ווײַל געלט איז דאָך קײַלעכיק
.און געלט גייט אַוועק
נעם איך מיר מײַן ליוביטשקע
.און כ’פֿאָר מיט איר אַוועק

איך פֿאָר מיט איר אַוועק
.ביז קיין אָדעס
שטעל מיט איר אַ חופּה
.ס’געדויערט אַ מעת־לעת

From Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive (Wayne State University Press, 2007):

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“Az in droysn geyt a reygn vern di shteyner nas” Performed by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and Lifshe Schaechter-Widman

Az in droysn geyt a reygn vern di shteyner nas
When It Rains Outside the Stones Get Wet
Sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman and Lifshe Schaechter-Widman
BSG recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx, 1980s; LSW recorded by Leybl Kahn 1954.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG) learned this lyrical love song from her mother Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW), and LSW probably learned it in her hometown of Zvinyetshke, Bukovina. At this “zingeray” (song sharing session) in the Gottesman home, one can hear other singers featured on “Yiddish Song of the Week” – Tsunye Rymer and Ita Taub –  joining in:

Leybl Kahn had years earlier recorded LSW singing the same song; so we have a rare opportunity to compare the singing of the same song by mother and daughter:

In this performance BSG leaves out the second verse which she usually included. LSW does include that verse.  I have transcribed and translated both versions though they are very similar.

Both versions have the wonderful rhyme of “khipe” (wedding canopy) with “klipe” (shrew or an evil spirit that won’t leave you alone).

Painting by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman

A recording of BSG singing this song with all the verses appears on the CD “Bay mayn mames shtibele” (At My Mother’s House, 2004) with violin accompaniment by Alicia Svigals

At the beginning and end of the LSW recording the collector Leybl Kahn sounds confused because LSW had just sung for him another song beginning with the same line “Az in droysn geyt a reygn”.

 BSG TRANSLITERATION

Az in droysn geyt a reygn,
vern di shteyndelekh nas.
Un az a meydele shpilt a libe
vern ire bekelekh blas.

Second verse that she left out:
Un az zi shpilt shoyn oys di libe
farlirt zi dokh ire farbn.
Un az zi shpilt nisht oys di libe,
miz zi dokh yingerheyt shtarbn]

Vos dreysti dikh mame far mayne oygn?
Dreyst dekh nor vi a klipe.
Kh’vel mit im avekforn in an anderer medine
un vel mit im shteln a khipe. 

Oy, un a shadkhn, oy vey iz der mamen,
vet ir zikh beyde nemen?
Say ez vet dir git geyn, say es vet dir shlekht geyn –
far keyn kind vil ekh dikh mer nisht kenen. 

Az in droysn geyt a reygn,
vern di shteyndelekh nas.
Un az a meydele shpilt a libe
vern ire bekelekh blas.

BSG TRANSLATION 

Outside, when it rains
the stones get wet.
And when a girl falls in love
her cheeks get pale.

Second verse that she left out:
And if the love is successful
she loses her colors.
And if the love is unrequited
then she must die

Why are you always before my eyes, mother.
You’re clinging to me like an evil spirit.
I will run away with him to a foreign land
and marry him under a canopy.

“Without a matchmaker, woe is to your mother,
you will take each other?
I don’t care if things go well, or bad with you.
I will no longer  consider you as my child”

Outside, when it rains
the stones get wet.
And when a girl falls in love
her cheeks get pale.

LSW VERSION TRANSLITERATION

Az in droysn geyt a reygn
vern di shteyndelekh nas.
In az a meydele shpilt a libe
vern ir di bekelekh blas.

In az zi shpilt di libe
vert zi dokh un di farbn
In az zi shpilt nisht oys di libe
miz zi dekh yingerheyt shtarbn.

Vus dreysti dikh, mametshkele, far mayne oygn.
Di dreyst dekh arim vi a klipe.
Ikh vel mit im avekfurn in a fremder medine
un vel mit im shteln a khipe. 

Un a shadkhn oy vey iz der mame
vet ir aykh beyde nemen.
Say es vet aykh git zayn, say ez vet aykh shlekht zan
Far keyn kind, vil ikh dekh mer nit kenen. 

Say es vet aykh git zayn, say ez vet aykh shlekht zayn
Far keyn kind, vil ikh dekh mer nit kenen.
Say es vet dir git zayn, say ez vet aykh shlekht zayn
Far keyn kind, vil ikh dekh mer nit kenen. 

LSW TRANSLATION

Outside, when it rains
the stones get wet.
And when a girl has a love
her cheeks get pale.

And if the love is successful
she loses her colors.
and if the love unrequited
then she must die

Why are you always before my eyes, mother.
You’re clinging to me like an evil spirit.
I will run away with him to a foreign land
and marry him under a canopy.

“Without a matchmaker, woe is to your mother,
you will take each other?
I don’t care if things go well, or bad with you.
I will no longer consider you as my child”