Er hot di zakh gut gemakht / He did it well A Yiddish Cheer sung by Tuba Shvartz-Khatinsky, recorded by Sarah Faerman, Toronto 1991
“Recess at a Talmud Torah” from Photographing The Jewish Nation: Pictures Form An-sky’s Ethographic Expeditions
Er hot di zakh git gemakht, git gemakht, git gemakht Mir hobn im nisht oysgelakht nit oysgelakht!
He did it well, did it well, did it well. We didn’t mock him, We didn’t mock him.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Tuba Shvarts Khatinsky was born in 1927 in Telenesti (then Romania, today Moldova) and then lived in Keshenev, (today Chisinau). Sarah Faerman recorded her in 1991 in Toronto where they both lived. Thanks for this week’s post to Sarah Faerman.
Eliakum Zunser’s “Der aristokrat”, Sung by Nathan Singer Recorded in 1948.
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.
Eliakum Zunser by Jacob Epstein, 1902
“Der aristokrat” was one of the most popular songs by the Vilna badkhn and composer Eliakum Zunser(1836-1913). It is the fifth Zunser song that we have posted on the blog.
The song is taken from a recording of the Singer and Nitzberg families which was done on a wire recorder in 1948 probably in Baltimore. Gertrude Singer Nitzberg transferred the recordings to tape in the 1970s and donated them to the Jewish Museum of Maryland.
Nathan Singer sings Zunser’s song in a “Litvish” dialect (“leyb” instead of “loyb”, “siml” instead of “shiml” for example). His version is remarkably close to Zunser’s printed orginal. The full text is 224 lines and was first printed in Eliakum Zunser’s collectionTsen yidishe folkslider, Vilna, 1888. Singer sings only one verse – 16 lines.
Zunser’s 1888 collection Tsen yidishe folkslider
There are two recordings of this song and both are by professional singers, so this home performance with a simplified melody contrasts with theirs, and most likely reflects how it was sung among the folk.One recording is on a Folkways album Selected Songs of Eliakum Zunser featuring the singer Nathaniel A. Entin. The other recording is found on a 78 rpm record by Marcus Eisenberg called “Der aristokrat”, 1919.
The complete poem “Der aristokrat” tells of the trials and tribulations of a wealthy man who leaves the Jewish world to live among Christians but he is not wanted there. He ends up a happy man working the land in Petah-Tikvah, Palestine.
We are attaching the complete Yiddish text from volume one of The Works of Elyokum Zunser: A Critical Edition by Mordkhe Schaechter, YIVO, 1964 and the music from volume two of the same work.
TRANSCRIPTION and TRANSLATIONOF NATHAN SINGER’S VERSION OF “DER ARISTOKRAT”
Fil dank ikh un leyb Gotes nomen,
er hot mir di eygn eyfgemakht. Hot geshikt eyf mayn shtetl pogromen
Dos hot mir fun kholem ervakht…
Many thanks and praises of God’s name, for he had opened my eyes. He sent pogroms to attack my town which woke me up from my dream.
Ikh hob opgelebt a lebn in tuml, fardorbn mayn kerper mayn zel. Af mayn hartsn iz ongevaksn siml [shiml]
un mayn yidishkayt iz avek in der velt.
I have a life of unrest. Ruined my body and soul. Mold was growing on my heart and my Jewishness got lost.
Geveynt haynt mit fremde natsyonen,
mayne brider ferhast un ferakht;
Am ende hot men mir nit gevolt konen,
in di eygn var ikh oysgelakht!
I live today among foreign nations, my brothers hated and despised. Finally, no one wanted to know me, I was mocked to my eyes.
Fun vanen nemen zikh di libes? / How do romances begin? Sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, recorded by Leybl Kahn 1954, The Bronx, New York City
Commentary by Itzik Gottesman
Though once fairly well-known and found in field recordings and several printed collections, I do not believe this lyric love song was ever recorded commercially other than on the CD Bay mayn mames shtibele, sung by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman’s (LSW’s) daughter Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman. Here we present a version by LSW herself.
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, 1972
In the I. L. Cahan collection (1957) there are three versions of the song (#26, 27, 28) from the Kiev region, the Vilna region and Podolia region; so the song has been “traveling” over a wide area for a while. One of the verses in those versions (#27) continues the counting of excuses:
Dem dritn terets zolstu zogn,
du host dikh gelernt shvimen.
Dem fertn terets zolstu zogn,
az du host dayn tsayt bakumen [bakimen]
The third excuse you should give
is that you were learning how to swim.
The fourth excuse you should give
is that you are having your period.
Thus making this the only Yiddish song I have found so far that mentions menstruation.
YIDDISH TRANSLITERATION & TRANSLATION
Fun vanet nemen zikh di libes
fin deym shpeytn in fin dem lakhn.
Indzer libe hot zikh geshlosn,
in eyne, tsvey of der nakhtn.
How do romances begin?
From mocking and from laughing.
Our love was sealed –
during one, two evenings.
Tsvelef shlugt zikh shoyn der zeyger.
Fir mekh up aheym.
Vus far a terets vel ikh zugn
Bay mayn mamen in der heym?
The clock has already rung twelve.
Take me home.
What excuse will I say
at my mother’s at home?
Dem ershtn teyrets zo’sti zugn,
az di host geneyet shpeyt.
Dem tsveytn teyrets vesti zugn –
az di host geblondzet dem veyg.
The first excuse you should give
is that you sewed late.
The second excuse you should give
is that you got lost on the way.
Vus toyg mir dayne teyritsem.
Fir mekh up ahem.
Di mame vet dus tirele farshlisn,
in droysn vel ikh blaybn shteyn.
What do I need your excuses for?
Take me home.
Mother will lock the door
and I will be stuck outside.
Lifshe Schaechter-Widman, 1972
Yiddish Song of the Week 