The Center for Traditional Music and Dance (the Yiddish Song of the Week’s sponsor) is pleased to announce a new website dedicated to research and pedagogy for the Yiddish folksong tradition. The websiteInside the Yiddish Folksong has been created by CTMD in partnership with a project team led by ethnomusicologist Mark Slobin, and includes Michael Alpert, Walter Zev Feldman, Ethel Raim, Josh Waletzky and the Yiddish Song of the Week’s editor, Itzik Gottesman.
And join us at the end of December for Yiddish New York, the USA’s largest festival of Yiddish music, language and culture! Click here for more details.
Tort un vayn / Cake and wine
A Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” sung by Tillie Fishman, recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg , Baltimore, 1979
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
This is a Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s song “Pie in the Sky” originally called “The Preacher and the Slave”. Here is Cisco Houston’s version of the Joe Hill song.
Joe Hill
Joe Hill (1879 – 1915) was a labor activist , songwriter and member of the IWW – Industrial Workers of the World. He was executed for the murder of a grocer and his son in Utah, despite international protests and appeals for clemency. His memory has been preserved in the song “Joe Hill” which was recorded by Paul Robeson, Joan Baez, among others.
Hill’s song was itself a parody of the Christian hymn “Sweet Bye and Bye” written in 1868. Here is country singer, Loretta Lynn with her version of the original hymn.
This Yiddish version of Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” appeared in the songbook Mit gezang tsum kamf, songs composed and arranged by Jacob Schaeffer, 1932. Fishman sings two verses, but the songbook has five.It does not say who translated or adapted the songs. We are attaching the music, the Yiddish text from that book, and including below a transcription of the longer version found in Schaeffer’s book. In Schaeffer’s collection the song is called “Der prister un der nar” (“The Priest and the Fool”).
Did you know that Ethel Raim, Yiddish singer and teacher, founder and artistic director emeritus of CTMD,composed a melody to “Joe Hill’s Last Will”? You can find it in the magazine “Sing Out!”, volume 11, #3, p. 29.
Special thanks with help for this week’s post to Emily Socolov.
TRANSLITERATION (Tillie Fishman’s version)
“Prist” un “preacher” haltn droshes umetum.
Vus me zugt undz, heyst men indz zayn frum. Es mont der galakh un es shtroft der rov.
Zol shoyn nemen tsi di tsores a sof.
Refrain
Me redt undz ayn es vet zayn. Es vet zayn.
In gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn. Broyt un vayn. Un dervayl shteyt in “line”. Es vet zayn
in gan-eyden tort un vayn; tort un vayn!
Fun dem eltstn biz dem klenstn kind,
vus me zogt im, zogt men as s’iz zind.
Es shtruft der galakh un es munt der rov.
Zol shoyn nemen tsu di tsores a sof.
Refrain
Me redt undz ayn es vet zayn. Es vet zayn
In gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn. Broyt un vayn. Un dervayl shteyt in “line”. Es vet zayn
in gan-eyden tort un vayn; tort un vayn!
TRANSLATION
Priest and preacher give speeches everywhere.
They are always saying that we should be religious.
The priest demands, the rabbi punishes. May an end to our troubles come soon.
Refrain
They assure us that there will be, in heaven fresh bread and wine. Bread and wine.
In the meantime get in line. There will be
in heaven cake and wine. Cake and wine.
From the oldest to the smallest child,
They are told that everything is a sin. The priest punishes and the rabbi demands.
May an end to our troubles come soon.
Refrain
They assure us that there will be, there will be, in heaven fresh bread and wine. Bread and wine.
In the meantime get in line. There will be
in heaven cake and wine. Cake and wine.
TRANSLITERATION OF SCHAEFFER VERSION
Pristers haltn droshes umetum
In Gots nomen heyst men undz zayn frum.
Laydn mir hunger, laydn mir noyt. Viln mir esn, monen mir broyt.
Refrain:
Redt men undz ayn es vet zayn in gan-eydn frishe broyt un vayn un dervayl shteyt in “layn”, Es vet zayn in gan-eydn tort un vayn.
Eyder mir derzen a por sent
rayst men es oys fun undzere hent. Prist un pritsher, yeder shvindler nemt
biz men tut undz oys dos letste hemd.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Shafn far raykhe un nit far zikh.
Shteyt men in “layn” far der tir bay der kikh.
Fresn di raykhe, s’platst zey der boykh. Volt men darlangt khotsh a bisl undz oykh.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Fun dem grestn biz dem klentstn kind
vos mir tuen af der erd iz zind.
Shtroft der galakh un es mont der rov.
un beshas mir tsoln undzer shtrof.
REFRAIN: Redt men undz ayn…
Joe Hill’s “Pie in the Sky” in the songbook Mit gezang tsum kamf, songs composed and arranged by Jacob Schaeffer, 1932
Oy vey mame ikh lib a sheyn yingl / Oh, Mother, I Love a Beautiful Boy Sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman (BSG)
Recorded at the Augusta Heritage Festival in Elkins, West Virginia, 1990.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
During the summer of 1990 Yiddish singer and teacher Ethel Raim had been asked to teach Yiddish song for “vocal week” at the Augusta Heritage Center, in West Virginia. She asked to bring Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, who turned 70 that summer, with her to co-teach.
Ethel Raim (left) and Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman
At the end of the “Vocal Week” the much larger Augusta Heritage Folk Festival took place on the same grounds and BSG sang this song from the stage at that occasion.
This song was learned by BSG in the United States after her arrival in 1951. It can be heard on a record sung by Feigele Panitz. It is also sung on a field recording by the singer and actress Diana Blumenfeld in the Stonehill Jewish Song Collection, curated online by Miriam Isaacs for the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. Blumenfeld sings an additional third verse.
Thanks to Ethel Raim for this week’s post.
TRANSLITERATION
Oy vey mame ikh lib a sheyn yingl.
Sheyn iz er vi di gantse velt.
Far zan sheynkeyt iz er ba mir eyner.
Un durkh im vert mayn harts farbrent.
Vifl tsures hob ikh zikh ungelitn.
Biz ikh hob gekent im derkenen.
Takhn trern, oy, ti ikh fargisn,
ven ikh ti zikh un im dermanen.
Kh’vel shoyn mer keyn libe nisht shpiln.
Ikh vel shoyn mer inter zayn fentster nisht shteyn.
Es zol zan harts azoy vi mans tsepiket vern,
vet er mer azoy groys bay zikh nisht zan.
TRANSLATION
Oh mother I’m in love with a handsome boy.
He’s as beautiful as the whole world.
Because of his beauty he is my one and only.
and for him my heart burns.
How many troubles had I suffered,
until I could recognize him for what he was.
Rivers of tears, oy, do I spill,
when I think of him.
I will no longer love him,
I will no longer stand under his window.
Let his heart break like mine;
then he will not be so conceited.
Reb Tsudek Sung by Itzik Gottesman, recorded Nov 2018, Austin TX
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
I was asked to post the song “Reb Tsudek” as sung by the Yiddish poet Martin Birnbaum. He sang it to Michael Alpert and me in 1984-85 in NYC. But, alas, I cannot find the original recording so I have recorded it myself.
Birnbaum was born in 1905 in Horodenke when it was Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian empire. Now it is in the Ukraine – Horodenka. According to a NY Times obituary he came to the US in 1923 and died in 1986. In the YIVO Institute’s Ruth Rubin Legacy Archive, Birnbaum sings four songs but not this one. Those recordings were done in 1964.
I believe there is more Yiddish folklore to be discovered about this shlimazel (bad luck) character Reb Tsudek. When I asked the Yiddish poet Yermye Hescheles about him he affirmed that there was such a comic figure in Galicia, where both he and Birnbaum were from.
The song mocks the Hasidic lifestyle – absurd devotion to the rebbe, irresponsibility, staying poor. The word “hiltay” – defined by the dictionaries as “libertine” “skirt-chaser” “scoundrel” – is really a cue that this is a 19th century maskilic, anti-Hasidic, song. The word is often used in such songs. The humor also hinges on the double meaning of tsimbl both as a musical instrument (a hammered dulcimer) and as a verb – “to thrash or scold someone”.
A tsimblist, about to be thrashed by his wife.
(courtesy Josh Horowitz)
In the song two towns are mentioned: Nay Zavalek remains a mystery but Grudek, west of Lviv, is Grodek in Polish and Horodok in Ukrainian.
Here is a clip of Michael Alpert singing the song, with Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl, Jake Shulman-Ment on violin and Ethel Raim singing at the Smithsonian Folkife Festival in Washington D.C., 2013:
TRANSLITERATION
Fort a yid keyn Nay-zavalek,
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Fort a yid tsu zayn rebn – Reb Tsudek.
Tsudek iz a yid, a lamden.
Er hot a boykh a tsentn,
Un s’iz bakant, az er ken shpiln
of ale instrumentn.
Shpilt er zikh derbay (2x)
Fort a yid keyn Nay-zavalek
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Fort a yid keyn Nay-Zavalek
direkt bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Un Reb Tsudek, er zol lebn,
hot gehat a gutn shabes.
Tsudek hot gekhapt shirayem,
mit beyde labes.
Aheymgebrakht hot er zayn vaybl
a zhmenye meyern-tsimes.
Un dertsu, oy vey iz mir,
a tsimbl un strines.
“Hiltay vus iz dus!” (2x)
Oy hot zi getsimblt Tsudek
fun Zavalek bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
Oy hot zi getsimblt Tsudek
fun Zavalek bizn in Grudek.
Oy vey z’mir tatenyu!
TRANSLATION
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek,
directly until Grudek.
The man is traveling to his rabbi,
Mister Tsudek.
Tsudek is a learned man,
and has a belly that weighs ten tons.
And everyone knows that he can play
on all the instruments.
So he plays as he travels –
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek
directly until Grudek,
Oh my, dear God!
A man travels to Nay-Zavalek
directly until Grudek,
Oh my, dear God!
And Reb Tsudek, may he be well,
had a good Sabbath.
Tsudek caught the Rebbe’s holy leftovers
with both paws [large, rough hands].
For his wife he brought home
a handful of carrot – tsimmes,
and in addition – oh no! –
a tsimbl with no strings.
Scoundrel! what is this? (2x)
Boy did she thrash Tsudek
from Zavalek until Grudek
Oh my, dear God.
Boy did she thrash Tsudek
from Zavalek unti Grudek
Oh my, dear God
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.
Feigl Yudin moved to the United States at the age of 14 from Grodna (Grodno) Gubernia, now in Belarus. Her parents stayed behind in Europe, so upon arriving to New York City she was housed by landslayt (contacts from her hometown), who took care of her until she was able to support herself. A skilled seamstress, Feigl continued working in the needle trades in the US for most of her life and was an active participant in the progressive labor movement.
When the Center presented the landmark concert with legendary clarinetist Dave Tarras on November 19, 1978, at Casa Galicia (now Webster Hall) in Manhattan, Feigl Yudin was a featured artist, among others. A native Yiddish speaker, she loved singing and was one of those people who could hear a melody for the first time and commit it to memory almost instantly. She would say, “When I hear a melody it haunts me and I must get the words.” Feigl had a large repertoire of Yiddish songs which she learned both in Europe and in the US, and, as you will hear, was a beautiful singer.
From Itzik Gottesman:
This love song is a strophic lyric quatrain which is typical of the Yiddish tradition. (See accompanying booklet to LP Folksongs in the East European Tradition from the repertoire of Mariam Nirenberg Prepared by Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett with Mark Slobin and Eleanor Gordon Mlotek, 1986, pages 5 – 6).
Yudin’s repertoire was recorded by Ruth Rubin starting in 1948. Four of her songs are included in the volume Yiddish Songs from the Ruth Rubin Archive (2007) and her song “Ba a taykhele” begins the collection.
It states there that the song was collected in 1967 and other versions can be found in I. L. Cahan’s collection Yidishe folkslider mit melodyes (1957) and the volume by Beregovski and Fefer – Yidishe folkslider (1938).
The suggested parallel in Cahan (song #175) is not convincingly a variant of this song, but the Beregovski and Fefer version is the exact same as Yudin sings it, and I am inclined to think that Yudin learned it from an Amerucan leftist Yiddish chorus/choir where the songs from the Beregovski and Fefer songbook were quite popular.
Bay a taykhele vakst a beymele.
Vaksn af dem tsvaygn.
Mit alemen redstu, mit aleman bistu frayndlekh.
Nor mir heystu shvaygn.
Bay a taykhele vakst a beymele Vaksn oyf dem blumen. (Haynt) freg ikh dir libster – ven vestu shoyn kumen? Ven vestu shoyn a mol kumen?
Bay a taykhele vakst a beymele Vaksn af dem bleter Freg ikh dir libster ven vestu shoyn kumen? Leygst alts op af shpeter.
By a stream a small tree grows.
On it grows branches.
You talk to everyone; you’re friendly with all.
But me – you ask to be silent.
By a stream a small tree grows.
On it grows flowers.
(Today) I ask you my beloved – when will you come already?
When will come for once?
By a stream a small tree grows.
On it grows leaves.
I ask you my beloved when will you come already?
But you keep putting it off for later.
Oy vey rebenyu
Performance by Josh Waletzky
Video-recorded at Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s office, New York City, by Peter Rushefsky, Ethel Raim and Benjy Fox-Rosen, January 28th, 2012.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
New York Yiddish singer Josh Waletzky learned this maskilic/anti-Hasidic song from from his grandfather Morris (Moyshe) Waletzky. Oy vey rebenyu has been recorded in a similar version by Jan Bart, with another version by Cantor Isaac Goodfriend.
The Soviet folklorist Z. Skuditski pointed out the similarity to the Mikhl Gordon song Mayn Tshuve (see note in Folklor-lider, volume 2) and it has been considered a Mikhl Gordon song ever since (I could not obtain the original Gordon version). However this anti-Hasidic song was later adapted and interpreted in some circles as a song to praise the rebbe, not mock him.
Interpretations praising the rebbe:
The Yiddish poet Yermye Hescheles (1910 – 2010), from Glina, Galicia, Poland, told me that on the holiday of Lag B’omer, when the melamed (teacher in the kheyder) walked with them into the woods, he taught the children this song in praise of the rebbe. (I would imagine that the verse with the cook Trayne was cut).
Di Naye Kapelye in Budapest recorded the song – only the refrain – in a slow, spiritual interpretation, on their album – “A mazeldiker yid” released on the Oriente Musik label.
According to band leader Bob Cohen, the source is a tape recording made in Maramures in 1970 by Romanian-Jewish ethnomusicologust Ghizella Suliteanu of a Roma band from Borsa led by Gheorghe Stingaci Covaci.
Refrain:
Oy vey rebenyu, ikh shuteye un tsiter un in hartsn brent a fayer. un in hartsn brent a fayer. Yakh vil zayn a khosidl a guter, a khosidl a getrayer. Yakh vil zayn a khosidl a guter, a khosidl a getrayer.
O rebbe I stand and shiver In my heart burns fire. I want to be a good khosid, a faithful khosid.
Bay dem davenen vel ikh zikh shoklen, makhn alerley hevayes. Far dem rebn mit zayne khasidim geyt mir oys dos Hayes.
When I pray I will rock,and make all kinds of gestures. For the rebbe and his khasidim, my strength gives out.
Vinter in di greste keltn. Far dem rebn mit zayne Chasidim gey ikh aynleygn veltn.
Winter in the greatest cold. For the rebbe and his khasidim I will tear down entire worlds.
Refrain
In Folklor-lider, vol. 2 the verses are:
A kalte mikve vel ikh zikh makhn vinter in di greste keltn. Far dem rebenyu, far zayne khsidimlekh vel ikh kereven veltn.
A cold mikve I will prepare winter in the greatest cold. For the rebbe, for his hasidim I will turn over worlds.
A vareme shal vel ikh zikh koyfn zumer in di greste hitsn. A zaydenem gartl vel ikh mir koyfn, a hitl mit zibetsn shpitsn.
A warm shawl will I buy summer in the greatest heat. A silk belt will I buy, a hat with 17 corners.
Dem rebn vel ikh leygn in fodershtn alker tsuzamen mit der kekhne Trayne. Un ale kshidemlekh veln hobn tsum rebn gor a groyse tayne.
I will put the rebbe in the front den with the cook Trayne. And all the Hasidim will complain to the rebbe.
“Yo, yo du vilst” (Yes, yes, you want) is a version of the international ballad, often called “Impossible Tasks”, #2 “Elfin Knight” in the Child ballad canon (Scarborough Fair is another example of this ballad type). Many Yiddish versions have been collected over a wide area of Eastern Europe. Hardly any of them, however, included the music when published. A more popular version was recently printed with music in Yiddish Folksongs From the Ruth Rubin Archive, Wayne St. University Press, 2007, page 61 – 62. Adrienne Cooper recorded that version on her CD “Enchanted”. In The Folk Songs of Ashkenaz, edited by Philip Bohlman and Otto Holzapfel, 2007, the compilers compare two Yiddish variants to four German variants on pages 82 – 89, music included.
The version sung by Josh Waletzky (which I recorded from him in 2007) parallels several found in Noyekh Prilutski’s Yidishe folkslider volume 2 (1913), pages 96 – 104, seven versions in all, and another one in the supplement at the end, pages 164 – 165. Most of the variants are from the Warsaw area. Waletzky sings only two verses (which he learned from Leyele Klempner, who sings on screen in Waletzky’s documentary film “Image Before My Eyes”) but one can easily reconstruct a fuller Warsaw version of this song. I did so for the Advanced Yiddish Song Workshop this month at Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany, but more work needs to be done. Ethel Raim played the class this recording; a beautiful melody quite different from the other melodies for this song.
“This is Josh Waletzky singing a song that I learned from Layele (Warsaw Yiddish pronunciation of Leyele) Klempner, from her repertoire. It’s a fragment and I sing it in my standard Yiddish; she sang it in her Polish Yiddish. She was from Warsaw. ”
Yo, yo du vilst, yo, yo, du vilst
az ikh zol mit dir tnoyim shraybn.
Zolstu mir zibn kinder hobn,
un a meydl farblaybn.
Yes, yes you want, yes, yes you want.
that I should sign the engagement contract with you.
Let’s see you have seven children,
and a maiden remain.
Yo, yo du vilst, yo, yo du vilst
Az ikh zol zibn kinder hobn un a meydl farblaybn
Zolstu mir ale shtern tseyln
vifl in himl zenen.
Yes, yes you want, yes, yes, you want.
that I should have seven children and a maiden remain;
Let’s see you count the stars
as many as are in the sky.
Der shadkhn (The Matchmaker) is a humorous song describing the special skills that a shadkhn needs for his trade. The performer, Clara Crasner, was a truly marvelous singer who possessed a vast repertoire of Yiddish songs. I only regret never having met her or having heard her sing in person. We’re so fortunate that her son-in-law, Bob Freedman, made a recording of her singing in 1972. Clara’s singing is wonderful – feisty, straight forward and yet beautifully nuanced, and narrative to the core.
Picture of Clara Crasner with her daughter Molly Freedman
Here’s an excerpt of Crasner’s biography written by her daughter, Molly Freedman:
“My mother Clara Fireman Crasner was born in 1902 in Shargorod, not far from Vinnitsa, in the Ukraine. She learned many Yiddish songs as a child in the shtetl. She left Shargorod in 1919, stayed in Romania with relatives for two years, (and learned more songs there) while waiting for immigration papers from an older brother in New Jersey. My mother was always singing Yiddish folk songs at home while she did her housework. She knew many, many songs and I learned the songs from her as a child. Clara lived in Philadelphia until about 1970 and then moved to Miami Beach, where she was part of a group of senior citizens who had a regular Yiddish singing session on the beach every day. My husband recorded Clara in 1972 at our home in Philadelphia. She was just singing her favorite songs from memory. She came back to Philadelphia in the mid-80s and lived at the Jewish Geriatric Center where she continued to sing, sometimes alone and also with other seniors. She lived to be 97 and often would remember songs that we had not heard before, while we were driving in the car… She was the inspiration for my love of Yiddish music and my husband and I continue to collect and share our music through our website at the University of Pennsylvania.”
A version of the song “Der shadkhn” can be found in the book Yiddish Folksongs from the Ruth Rubin Archive edited by Chana Mlotek and Mark Slobin, page 82-83. There it is called “A shadkhn darf men kenen zayn” and the melody is printed on page 82. Rubin writes that the song originates from the pen of Avrom Goldfaden. The words are somewhat different.
Ethel Raim, Michael Alpert and I traveled to the Yiddish Summer Weimar program the last week of July (2010) to teach traditional unaccompanied Yiddish folksong style – the focus of this blog. Ethel and Michael taught the vocal style, and I spoke on the songs and singers of this tradition. I believe this was, if not the first, then one of the first attempts to pass on this tradition to a new generation of singers, and kudos to Alan Bern, director of Yiddish Summer Weimar, who also co-taught, for his suggestion and decision to teach this. The students were seriously interested in learning the songs and style and were wonderful. Ethel taught another of Clara Crasner’s songs in her class at Weimar “A meydl in di yorn.”
Di lid hot mayn shvegerin gezungen; zi’s a Malover, Podolyer gubernye. Mayn shvegerun un mayn brider zingen es.
Zey zogn az zeyer futer hot es zey oysgelernt, mit a sakh yurn tsurik. Di lid heyst “der shadkhn.”
This song was sung by my sister-in-law. She is from Malov, Podolye. My sister-in-law and my brother sing it.
They say that their father taught it to them many years ago. The song is called “Der shadkhn.”
A shadkhn tsi zayn iz a gute zakh.
Es iz fun Got a brukhe.
Me makht zikh a bisele kushere gelt.
Un me tit nit keyn groyse melukhe.
To be a matchmaker is a good thing.
It is a blessing from G-d.
One earns a little honest money.
And you don’t have to work too hard.
Refrain:
Tsu deym darf men kenen a koysye makhn.
Makhn mit di hent,
Fun a shadkhn meyg men lakhn
Tsuzamen gefirt di vent mit di vent.
For this you need to take a drink.
Take it with your hands.
You can laugh at the matchmaker-
who brings together a wall with a wall.
Un az di mekhiteyniste vil nit di kale
darf men ir makhn meshige
Me darf ir azoy dem kop fardreyen
Zi zol shrayen gevold zi’s a klige!
And if the mother-in-law doesn’t want the bride,
You have to make her go crazy.
You should drive her so nuts,
That she yells “Wow, she’s is a smart one”.
Refrain:
Tsu deym darf men kenen a koysye makhn.
Makhn mit di hent,
Fun a shadkhn meyg men lakhn
Tsuzamen gefirt di vent mit di vent.
For this you need to take a drink.
Take it with your hands.
You can laugh at the matchmaker-
who brings together a wall with a wall.
Un az der mekhitin vil nisht dem khusn.
Darf men im makhn dil.
Me darf im azoy dem kop fardreyen
Er zol shrayen “Gevald ikh vil!”
And if the father-in-law doesn’t want the groom,
You should make him batty.
You should drive him so nuts
that he yells “Wow, I want!”
Refrain:
Tsu deym darf men kenen a koysye makhn.
Makhn mit di hent,
Fun a shadkhn meyg men lakhn
Tsuzamen gefirt di vent mit di vent.
For this you need to take a drink.
Take it with your hands.
You can laugh at the matchmaker-
who brings together a wall with a wall.
Un az di kale iz finef un tsvantsik yor alt
Fregt der khusn mir.
Zug ikh im az zi’s akhtsin yur
un dus iberike halt ikh mir.
And if the bride is 25 years old
and the groom asks me about it.
I tell him that she’s only 18,
and the leftover years, I will keep for myself.
Refrain:
Tsu deym darf men kenen a koysye makhn.
Makhn mit di hent,
Fun a shadkhn meyg men lakhn
Tsuzamen gefirt di vent mit di vent.
For this you need to take a drink.
Take it with your hands.
You can laugh at the matchmaker-
who brings together a wall with a wall.
Un biz ikh nem up dus shadkhones-gelt
Tserays ikh tsvey pur shikh.
Un az ikh nem up dus shadkhones-gelt.
Khapt zey ale dus riekh.
By the time I pick up the matchmaker fee
I tear up two pairs of shoes.
And when I finally pick up the matchmaker fee,
The devil take them all!
Refrain:
Tsu deym darf men kenen a koysye makhn.
Makhn mit di hent,
Fun a shadkhn meyg men lakhn
Tsuzamen gefirt di vent mit di vent.
For this you need to take a drink.
Take it with your hands.
You can laugh at the matchmaker-
who brings together a wall with a wall.
A tsimblist, about to be thrashed by his wife.
Yiddish Song of the Week 