Vi iz dus meydele? / Where Is The Girl? A Yiddish children’s game song from Bukovina. Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW], recorded by Leybl Kahn, NYC 1954.
Image: YIVO Institute
Leybl Kahn (spoken): Vi heyst dos lid?
LSW: (spoken) A kindershpil. Kinder hobn zikh arimgenemen in a rud. In m’ot eynem tsigebin’en di oygn; geveyntlekh a yingele hot men tsigebinen di oygn in er fleygt arimgeyn in zingen.
LSW: A children’s game. Children held each other in a circle and they blindfolded someone; usually a boy was blindfolded. And he went around singing this:
LSW sings:
Vi iz dus meydele vus ikh hob zi gevolt. Ikh vel ir geybn a shisele mit gold. Efsher shteyt zi dort bay der tir. Meydele, oy meydele, kim arayn tse mir.
Where is the girl that I wanted. I will give her a golden plate. Maybe she is standing there at the door. Girl, o, girl come inside to me.
Vi i’dus meydele vus ikh hob zi gevolt? Ikh vel ir geybn a ringele fin gold. Kim shoyn meydele, kim arayn tsi mir. Meydele, oy, sheyne, shtey nisht bay der tir.
Where is the girl that I wanted? I will give her a golden ring. Come already girl, come inside to me. Girl, o, pretty one, don’t stand by the door.
LSW (spoken) Azoy fleygt men arimloyfn biz m’ot gekhapt dos meydele un dernokh iz men gegangen mit an andern.
LSW: In this way they ran around till they caught a girl and then they chose another
This is a shtetl version of Blind Man’s Bluff or “Blinde ku”(Blind cow) sung by the boy. In the collection of Ginzburg and Marek Yiddish Folksongs in Russia, 1901, there is a one verse song that might be what the girl would sing when it is her turn (No. 208, page 168)
Vu iz dus bokherl vos hot mikh gevolt? Vos hot mir tsugezogt a “fazeile” [fatsheyle] mit gold? Dortn shteyt er unter der vant. Halt di “fazeile” in der hant.
Where is the boy who wanted me? Who promised me a kerchief full of gold. There he is standing at the wall. Holding the kerchief in his hand.
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.
Gib a brukhe tsu dayn kind/ Give a Blessing to Your Child A Holocaust song learned in the Bochnia ghetto, Poland. Sung by Sara Rosen, recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1989, NYC.
Photo: Children in Bochnia
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
This is a Holocaust song from the Bochnia ghetto sung by Sara Rosen. The author and composer of the song are unknown. Rosen learned this song in the Bochnia ghetto. For her biography see the previous post “Es dremlt in geto”.
A post-Holocaust recording of this song can be listened to on the album Remember the Children, 1991. Sung by Adrienne Cooper, #18 on the recording produced by the United States Holocaust Museum.
Printed versions of this song, words and music, can be found in We Are Here/Mir zenen do (1983) compiled by Eleonor Mlotek and Malke Gottlieb. (scans attached – “Rosen/Mlotek) and in Shmerke Kaczerginsky’s Lider fun di getos un lagern: text 208 – 209; no music. (scans attached “Rosen/Katsh”). Mlotek and Gottlieb write that “This song was sung by the deported Jews of Cracow in Miedzrych Podlaska and in the Bochnia ghetto in 1941.”
Much of the last verse in my recording of Rosen is missing due to technical issues [approx.5:50 min – 6.00Min I would advise any singers of this song to make up the gap with Katsherginski’s version, which he recorded from Meyer Lamer. מאיר לאמער
The music of this song was used in the first Bobov Purim Shpil after the Holocaust produced in the United States. In an article by Moyshe Aftergut (translated by Shifre Epstein in the website “In Geveb”), Aftergut writes:
“The music of one song, “Mame, gib dayn brukhe tsu dayn kind (“Mother, Give a Blessing to Your Child”), best illustrates the role of music in creating the setting for the play. The song was written by an unknown composer and was sung by mothers in the ghettos during World War II as farewell songs to their children before they were taken away.”
Thanks this week to Eliezer Niborski who edited my Yiddish text.
Spoken introduction to song by Sara Rosen, translated by Itzik Gottesman:
“This ws already the year 1943. There were almost no Jews left in Poland. There were a few towns where the last ones were left in labor camps. And there were already concentration camps. I remember there was a girl Fela Shtern. She said she knows a song that a young boy wrote it; she doesn’t know who wrote it. And this is how the song spread around. And it was sung a lot because we already knew this is the fate that awaited us.
There [Bochnia ghetto] where we were, maybe five families remained together. They took away a sister, they killed, led her away. There were also refugees who escaped from here and there. The original people from Bochia, even from the Bochni ghetto were very few because they were already deported. For first raid they said that young people will be taken to work. The parents forced them, even pulled the children to go. ‘You will live but we are old already.’ So almost the whole youth of Bochnia was “liquidated”, that’s what they called it. Bochnia was the town I was in. It was a small town. The parents always hoped, waited for letters from the children, but they soon knew what happened.
This was a then a popular song that I have never heard. First of all there were very few people who survived. I never heard any one sing it. I wanted to sing it because it’s such a great song; not from a poetical, musical viewpoint, but it illustrates the situation how it was.
I have a good voice but today it’s rusty, but it’s not about my voice.
VERSE 1 PLUS REFRAIN
Ikh vil nisht mer nemen gor in akht. vus ikh hob letstns mitgemakht. Zayt ikh bin fin der haym avek, di tunkle gedanken vus nemen kayn ek. Di tribne teyg, der shverer veyg zey roybn bay mir dus letste gefil. Nor amul banakht, az kayner vakht tsu man mamen in khulem vayn ikh shtil.
I don’t want to consider anymore what I suffered yesterday, Since I have left my home I have dark thoughts that are endless. The gloomy days, the difficult way, they steal away my final feeling. But sometimes at night, when no one is awake I cry to my mother in my dreams.
REFRAIN:
Oy mame, mame nokh atsind gib a brukhe tsu dayn kind. Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn, veln mir zeyen zikh geshvind. Oh mama, mama, even now give a blessing to your child. As God will give, health and life, we will soon meet again.
VERSE 2 PLUS REFRAIN
Gedenk ikh nokh, es iz damolst geveyn; Der tug der letster herlekh un sheyn. In mayn mame, bay der kokh farnumen, iz di shvester di klayne arayngekumen. Ikh hob gehert nas [nayes] af der gas. Az morgn vet a registratsye zayn. Di yugnt gur, biz finf un draysik yur. zol morgn fri far “arbaytsamy” ofshtayn.
I remember still how it once was; That day the last onem beautiful and nice and my mother, busy cooking when my younger sister entered, I heard news on the street that tomorrow there will be a registration. For all those younger than 35 years they will tomorrow wake up for the workers’ office.
Oy mame, mame blayb gezint, Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind. Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn, Veln mir zeyen zikh geshvind .
Oy, mother, mother stay healthy, I must now leave you. If God will give health and life we will see each other soon.
VERSE 3 PLUS REFRAIN
Kom iz adorekh di kurtse nakht, der tog der letster nemt shoyn di makht, un mayn mame git zikh di mi dus frishtik dus letste, greyt zi mir tsi. Mir gisn aroys trern yamen ale kinder fin ayn mamen. Me kisht zikh tsuzamen Di mame vaynt: Vi vel ikh mikh kenen shaydn fin aykh?
Oceans of tears are pouring from me. All children from one mother. We kiss each other, and mother cries How will I separate from you all?
Oy mame, mame blab gezint, Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind. Az Got vet geybn, gezint mit leybn, vel mir zeyen zikh geshvind.
Oy, mother, mother stay well. I must now leave you. If God will give health and life, we will see each other soon.
[Beginning of Verse 4 sung by Rosen]
A ray khadoshim avek shoyn fin mir, fin mayn mamen, fin mayn tatn vays ikh kayn shpur.. Mayne libe eltern hot der tayerer Got farviglt, farpakt in a groysn [sod?]
[RECORDING IS ERASED FOR 15 SECONDS. What follows in bold face are four similar lines from Katcherginski’s Collection to conclude the fourth verse]
Un ikh ze nisht mer mayn mames gezikht vos ikh lib mit harts un gefil… Nor a mul ba nakht, ven keyner vakht, tsi mayn mamen in khulem vayn ikh shtil.
Translation of last verse:
(Rosen) My dear parents, did the great God hide in heaven, in his great orchard. I no longer see my mother’s face that I love with my heart and emotion. (Katsherginski’s text at this point) But sometimes at night, when no one is awake, I cry quietly in my dreams to my mother:
LAST REFRAIN FROM ROSEN
Oy mame, mame blab gezint, Avek fin dir miz ikh atsind. Az got vet geybn, gezint mit laybn, vel mir zeyn zikh geshvind.
Oy, mother, mother stay healthy. I must now leave you If God will give, health and life, will we see each other again soon.
גיב אַ ברכה צו דײַן קינד ,געזונגען פֿון שרה ראָזען געהערט אין בוכניער לאַגער, פּוילן
איך וויל נישט מער נעמען גאָר אין אַכט .וואָס איך האָב לעצטנס מיטגעמאַכט זײַט איך בין פֿון דער היים אַוועק .די טונק’לע געדאַנקען וואָס נעמען קיין עק די טריבנע טעג, דער שווערער וועג זיי רויבן בײַ מיר דאָס לעצטע געפֿיל נאָר אַמאָל בײַ נאַכט, אַז קיינער וואַכט .צו מײַן מאַמען אין חלום וויין איך שטיל
S’hot mit indz geleybt a khaver / A Comrade Lived Among Us. A Soviet Yiddish song praising Stalin. Sung by Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman [BSG], recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Bronx. 1990s.
Image: A Jewish Kolhoz in Crimea
Commentary on the song is below after the lyrics and translation.
BSG spoken:
Dos hob ikh gehert tsum ershtn mul in Chernovitz in tsayt fun di rusn. I heard this for the first time in the time of the Russians. [The Soviet occupation of Chernovitz was June 1940 – July 1941]
S’hot mit indz geleybt a khaver. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay S’iz geveyn a yat a, braver. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
A comrade lived among us. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay He was a brave lad. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Er fleygt kikn af di shtern. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay A kolvirt vet bay undz vern. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
He used to look up to the stars Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay. We should build a kolvirt [farming collective]. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Fun di velder ungekimen. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay Hot er indz tsunoyf genimen. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
From the fields we came. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay He gathered us together Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Lomir trinken a lekhayim Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay far dem leybn, far dem nayem. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
[BSG indicates this verse can be sung at the end]
Let us make a toast Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay for the new life. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Far der oktober-revolutsye Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay in far Stalins konsitutsye Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
For the October Revolution Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay And for Stalin’s constitution Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Far di kinder, [far] di zkeynem. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay In far alemen in eynem. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
For the children, for the old ones Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay And for all of us together. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Zol der ershter kos zikh khvalyen. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay far indzer libn khaver _______
(BSG spits and says “yemakh shmoy” then continues) …Stalin. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Let the first drink swirl Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay for our dear comrade ______ [BSG spits and curses him “May his name be erased” then continues] …Stalin. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
Far der Oktober-revolutsye Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay in far Stalins konsitutsye. Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
For the October Revolution Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay And for Stalin’s constitutution Ay-ay-ay-ay-ay-ay
.ביילע רעדט: דאָס האָב איך געהערט צום ערשטן מאָל אין טשערנעוויץ אין צײַט פֿון די רוסן
BSG was reading from a notebook of Yiddish songs that she wrote down in Vienna in the Displaced Persons camp (1947- 1950). You can hear my voice helping her read some of the lines.
It seems that this song started out as a Hasidic nign (כּיצד מרקדי Ketzad merakdin);
Here is an instrumental version of the Hasidic tune from the album “Chassidic Authentic Wedding Dances (Galton D-5935):
Then the melody was used for a Soviet Yiddish song praising Stalin in the 1930s and 1940s, probably made popular by the 1938 recording of the Soviet Yiddish singer Zinoviy Shulman (1904 – 1977) .
The text version praising Stalin as was printed in the collection Yidishe folks-lider, edited by Y. Dobrushn and A. Yuditsky, Moscow 1940, p. 425
Here is an image of that version:
In the 1950s, after the death of Stalin (1953), the song made its way into the leftist 1956 American Yiddish songbook Lomir ale zingen / Let’s Sing (Jewish Music Alliance, NY) but dropped any mention of Stalin, of his constitution and of the October revolution. It was called “S’hot mit undz gelebt a khaver”.
A rousing version of the song entited L’chayim Stalin and based on the Shulman recording was recently recorded by Dan Kahn and Psoy Korolenko, including the references to Stalin on their album The Third Unternationale (2020):
Special thanks this week to Benjamin Ginzburg, Arun Vishwanath, Psoy Korolenko and Dan Kahn.
Ikh hob ongehoybn shpiln a libe / I Began a Romance Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman [LSW], recorded by Leybl Kahn, 1954, New York City
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman with her son, the linguist Mordkhe Schaechter. 1930s, Chernovitz, Romania.
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
Another lyrical love song from the repertoire of LSW. The wonderful rhyme “blote” (mud, mire) and “akhote” (desire, enthusiasm) is rare but can be found in I. L. Cahan’s collection (YIVO, 1957, page 183), in a similar verse but different melody. Also noteworthy is the curse that the girl wishes upon her boyfriend – may he become a beggar and at every door, may they say “You were here already”. In today’s slang we would say – “We gave at the office.”
Ikh hob ongehoybn shpiln a libe Mit groys kheyshik in mit akhote. Mit groys kheyshik in mit akhote. Arupgefirt hot dus mekh fun deym glaykhn veyg. Arayngefirt in a tifer blote.
I began a romance with great desire and with enthusiasm. With great desire and with enthusiasm. It led me astray off the straight path. And led me into a deep mire. It led me astray off the straight path. And led me into a deep mire.
Ikh vel dir koyfn, mayn tayer, zis leybn a goldenem zeyger mit a vazer. [vayzer] A goldenem zeyger mit a vazer. Der vos hot undz beyde tsesheydt, er zol geyn in di hayzer.
I will buy you, my dear, sweet one, a golden clock with a clock hand. A golden clock with a clock hand. He who split us apart should go begging among the houses.
In di hayzer zol er geyn. Bay yeyder tir zol er blaybn shteyn. Bay yeyder tir zol er blaybn shteyn Un yeyder zol im dus zugn: “Ba mir bisti shoyn geveyn.” Un yeyder zol im dus zugn: “Ba mir bisti shoyn geveyn.”
May he go begging among the houses and at every door should he stop. At every door should he stop. And everyone should say to him “You have already been here.” And everyone should say to him “You have already been here.”
Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht / In a dark night Sung by Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller, Recorded by Michael Kroopkin, Chicago 1965.
photo: “Goldie (left) and sister Hyala Rosenbaum
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
For biographical information on the singer Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller, see the previous post at this link.
Most Yiddish love songs are three, four, maybe five verses long, but here we have a ten verse lyrical love song. Some of the Yiddish lines do not make sense to me (“God, show us your nap”?) We welcome suggestions for other interpretations. Eliezer Niborski helped clarify some lines and suggested corrections in brackets.
Though some of the verses are confusing, Rosenbaum-Miller sings with much self-assuredness in an old, slow Yiddish folksong style.
The two word spoken conclusion “Ende libe”, (“the end of the romance”) implies a ballad-like plot was at play during the performance of this song, but many verses can be found in other Yiddish lyrical love songs.
Thanks again to Rosenbaum-Miller’s great granddaughter Debbie Kroopkin for bringing the home recordings of Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller to the attention of Binyumin Schaechter, longtime conductor of the NYC based Yiddish Philharmonic Chorus.
Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht Sung by Goldie Rosenbaum-Miller
1) Gur in eyn fintsterer nakht. Badekt iz gevorn der himl. In ikh shtey mir in ayn vinkele fartrakht. Got, oy, bavayz shoyn dayn driml.
In a dark night, the sky became covered, and I stand in a corner and think – Oh God, reveal your nap/rest. [?]
2) Lyubtshenyu, dushunyu, leybn, efn mir oyf di tir. Ikh shtey eyne aleyn; hob shoyn rakhmones oyf mir.
My darling, dear one, my love, Open the door for me. I am standing alone – Have pity on me.
3) Ikh hob mir nisht mit veymenen tsu baheftn. Mit keynemen kayn vort tsu reydn. Es geyt mir oys mayne koykhes un kreftn. Dem toyt iz mir optsubeygn [?] [Or – “dem toyt oyf zikh betn”]
I don’t have anyone to connect with. With no one do I have a single word to say. My strength and power are fading. Death is for me to bend [?] [Or perhaps – I wish death upon me.]
Don’t think that because you are the one, you can know what is in my heart. Don’t think that because you are the one, you can know my pain.
5) Mayne eltern tien mir freygn: “Tokhternyu, vus geyst azoy fartribt?” “Muter, kh’en dir nisht fartseyln. Kh’ob mir in eynem ayngelibt.”
My parents ask me: “Daughter, why do you go around so sad?” “Mother, I can’t tell you. I have fallen in love with someone.”
6) Farlibt hob ikh mir in eynem. Vayter, oy, lib ikh nisht keynem Fartseyln ken ikh nisht far keynem, Minhastame, [min-hastam] dekh, i’ mir azoy bashert.
I have fallen in love with someone; none other do I love. I can speak of this to no one. Probably it was so fated.
7) Ikh trink mir un in eyn taykh. Ale mentshn zeyen mit di oygn. Vus toyg mir mayn gelt in mayn raykh? Mayn lyubtshe iz fin mir farfloygn.
I drink much [am drowning?] in a river. All the people watch me with their eyes. What need do I have of my money and my wealth? My darling has flown away. .
8) Er iz fin mir farfloygn durkh eyn ayn vaytn land. Ikh sheym mir oystsuzugn. S’iz mir ayn groyser shand.
He flew away from me, to a distant land. I am ashamed to talk about it. I am so humiliated.
9) Kh’ob nisht gekikt af kayn blote un af kayn reygn. Ikh bin shtendik tsu dir gekimen. Hayntike vokh [Haynt iz gevorn] hobn farvaksn indzere veygn, fin indzern troyerdikn shpatsir.
Neither mud, nor rain prevented me. I still always came to you. This week [today our paths grew together?] our two paths crossed during our sad walk.
10) Kh’o shoyn dir, oy, lang gevolt oyszugn. Farblayb shoyn, oy, mayner af gevis. Haynt ti ikh veynen in klugn. Mayn hofening iz geveyn imzist. [imer zis]
I have wanted to tell you for a long time. Stay mine for sure. Today I cry and moan. My hope was for naught. [was always sweet]
(Spoken) Ende libe…The end of the romance
גאָר אין אַ פֿינצטערער נאַכט געזונגען פֿון גאָלדי ראָזענבאַום־מילער
גאָר אין אײַן [=אַ] פֿינצטערער נאַכט .באַדעקט איז געוואָרן דער הימל .און איך שטיי מיר אין אײַן [=אַ] ווינקעלע פֿאַרטראַכט .גאָט, אוי, באַווײַז שוין דײַן דרימל
Seyder nakht (Di fentster, zey lakhtn)/ Seder Night (The Windows Illuminate) A Passover song from the American Folkshuls. Words: Naftoli Gross. Music: Mikhl Gelbart. Sung and recorded April 12, 2022 by Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, Teaneck New Jersey
Naftoli Gross (1896-1956)
Di fentster zey lakhtn mit yontif in blendn. Di tishn – mit gildene koyses in kares, koyses in kares. Di shtiber – mit kinder in vinder-legendn. Zey zingen – fin gur ale vinklen in shpares. vinklen in shpares
The windows illuminate with festival and dazzle. The tables – with golden goblets and seder plates goblets and seder plates The homes – with children and wonder legends, they sing from every corner and crevice, corner and crevice.
Di tirn fin shtiber, zey shteyen breyt ofn. Ver s’darf zol hant kimen tsi indz un zol esn, kimen in zol esn. Di kindershe oygn mit yontif in hofn. Eliyohu vet kimen in keynem fargesn, keynem fargesn.
The doors of homes are wide open. Whoever needs to, should come to us and eat, come and eat. The childlike eyes with holiday and hope, Elijah should come and forget no one, Forget no one.
COMMENTARY by Itzik Gottesman
This song entitled “Seyder nakht”, with words by Naftoli Gross (1896-1956) and music by Mikhl Gelbart (1889 – 1962) was published in 1948. It was sung at the beginning of the Workman’s Circle and Sholem Aleichem folkshuls’ seders in the 1960s and probably earlier. Since I could find no recording of the song, I asked Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath, who remembered it from Sholem Aleichem Shul #21 in the Bronx to record it.
Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath is a Yiddish poet and the chair of the League for Yiddish in New York City.Below the song as published in the Sholem Aleichem folkshul Passover Haggadah, circa 1968:
Za górami, za lasami / Inter di berglekh A Macaronic Polish Yiddish dance song sung by Sara Rosen. Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, 1989. NYC photo.
Dancing a Polka
Spelled in Polish
English translation
Za górami, za lasami, Tańcowała Małgorzatka z Góralami. Tańcowała Małgorzatka z Góralami. Przyszedł ojciec, przyszła matka, Chodź do domu, chodź do domu, Małgorzatka! Chodź do domu, chodź do domu, Małgorzatka! Ja nie pójdę. Idźcie sami! Ja tu będę tańcowała z Góralami. Ja tu będę tańcowała z Góralami. I nie poszła. I została.Tańcowała z Góralami. Aż do rana. Tańcowała z Góralami Aż do rana.
Over, beyond mountains and forests, Margaret danced with the Highlanders (click here info on Polish Highlanders). Father came, and mother came. Come home, Margaret! I won’t go. Go by yourselves! I’ll dance here with the Highlanders. And she didn’t go. Instead she stayed. She danced until dawn with the Highlanders.
Yiddish words: (H)Inter di berglekh, (H) inter di felde hot getantsn Malke-Zlata mit di zelners.
[talks]
Behind the hills, behind the fields, danced Malke-Zlata with the soldiers
Gekimen di mame, gekimen der tate “Kim ahaym, kim ahaym Malke-Zlate”
Her mother came, her father came, “Come home, come home, Malke-Zlate”
“Ikh vil nisht gayn, gayts aleyn. Ikh vil du tantsn, ikh vil du hotsken mit Dragayn.”
“I don’t want to go, go by yourselves. I want to dance, i want to with the Dragoons.”
Iz zi nisht geganen, iz es geblibn. Z’hot getantsn, z’hot gehotsket biz a zeyer zibn.
So she didn’t go and it stayed the same. She danced and shook till seven o’clock.
הינטער די בערגלעך, הינטער די פֿעלדער .האָט געטאַנצן מלכּה־זלאַטע מיט די זעלנערס ,געקומען די מאַמע, געקומען דער טאַטע „.קום אַהיים, קום אַהיים מלכּה־זלאַטע” „איך וויל נישט גיין, גייט אַליין” “.איך וויל דאָ טאַנצן, איך וויל דאָ האָצקען מיט דראַגײַן” .איז זי נישט געגאַנגען, איז עס געבליבן .ז’האָט געטאַנצן, ז’האָט געהאָצקעט ביז אַ זייגער זיבן
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
The old Polish folksong “Małgorzatka” also known as ” Za górami” is well known. Less known is this macaronic version with Polish and Yiddish. Sara Rosen, born in Krakow, sings it in a polka rhythm. According to Polish music websites, the song in Polish has roots going back to the 16th century and might have started out as a beggar’s song. A Polish website with many versions in Polish can be found here, and additional information on the song is at this Polish website.
Gila Flam, director of the Music Department of the Jewish National and University Library, recorded a Lodz ghetto adaptation written in Polish by Miriam Harel. She discusses the song in her work Singing for Survival: Songs of the Lodz Ghetto 1940-1945, pages 121-22. Here is the recording:
Thanks to: Polish singer and researcher Mariza Nawrocka for information and the links to the Polish song; to Gila Flam for her recording; to Paula Teitelbaum who printed the words in Polish and the translation from the Polish. Also thanks to Karolina Koprowska.
Ikh bin a blekher / I am a Roofer (Tinsmith) A children’s song sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn NY 1954
ikh bin a blekher I am a roofer (tinsmith) Ekh krikh af ale dekher I crawl on all the roofs. A kestl blekh arifgetrugn, I carried up a box of tin. ungeklopt in ungeshlugn. Banged and hammered in. Ekh bin oysgefurn a velt. I’ve traveled around the world. ikh hob nisht keyn groshn gelt. I don’t have one penny.
Spoken (by her son Mordkhe Schaechter): S’iz a kinderlidl. It’s a children’s song.
In the Yiddish dictionaries “blekher” is translated as “tinsmith”, but the singer Lifshe Schaechter-Widman (LSW) uses the word, and not just in this song, to also mean “roofer”, fixing roofs made of tin. Children’s songs that mock the poverty of the tradesman abound in Yiddish and LSW also sang a song about a cobbler with no shoes for himself (“Ikh bin a shisterl”).
Dremlender yingele / Dozing Boy Sung by Ita Taub. Recorded by Itzik Gottesman, Circle Lodge, Hopewell Junction, NY, 1987. Words by H. Leivick, music by Mikhl Gelbart.
Mikhl Gelbart (left) and H. Leivick (right)
Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, kukt nit tsu mir in di oygn arayn. Tifer in tifer in shlof grob zikh ayn. Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn.
Dozing boy, my boy, Don’t look me in the eyes. Deeper and deeper fall into your sleep, Dozing boy, my boy. Dozing boy, my boy.
Ikh bin geshtorbn un zey durkhn toyt vi du, gor mayn ershter, der letster fargeyt. Iz dir bashert gur der letster tsu zayn? Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn, Dremlinder yingele, yingele mayn.
I died and see through death how you, though my first, is the last to go down. Are you really fated to be the last? [ in original poem: “Have you been sentenced (farmishpet) to be the last”] Dozing boy, my boy. Dozing boy, my boy.
COMMENTARY BY ITZIK GOTTESMAN
Ita Taub sings the first four verses of a seven verse poem written by the poet H. Leivick (Leyvik Halpern, 1888 – 1962). The complete poem “Dremlender yingele“ can be found in Leivick’s third volume of collected poetry “In Keynems land” (Warsaw, 1923). A scan of the poem is attached below.
I am not aware of any recording of Taub’s version with this melody of the poem. A version composed by the cantor Pinchos Jassinowsky was recorded by Sidor Belarsky on a 78rpm record. Sima Miller and Leon Lishner also recorded the song with Jassinowsky’s melody.
Chana and Yosl Mlotek in their folksong column in the Forverts newspaper “Leyner dermonen zikh lider”, June 3, 1987, print the words to the song and write that Mikhl Gelbart was the composer, not mentioning Jassinowsky. So it is fair to assume that Taub’s melody is the one to which they are referring, though I have yet to find it in Gelbart’s numerous publications.
You can hear the poet H. Leivick reciting the poem here:
Special thanks this week to Lorin Sklamberg and the YIVO Sound Archives and to Cantor Sharon Bernstein.
דרעמלנדערייִנגעלע
ווערטער: ה. לייוויק. מוזיק: מיכל געלבאַרט געזונגען פֿון איטע טאַוב .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן .קוק ניט צו מיר אין די אויגן אַרײַן .טיפֿער און טיפֿער אין שלאָף גראָב זיך אײַן .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן .דרעמלנדער ייִנגעלע, ייִנגעלע מײַן
Yiddish Song of the Week 