“In a fektori lebn a mashin” Performed by Mary Roten

In  a fektori lebn a mashin (Khane, hayret mit mir) / In a Factory, Near a Machine (Hannah, Marry Me)
Sung by Mary Roten  (1900 – 1993), recorded by Gertrude Nitzberg in 1979, Baltimore, Maryland

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

“Khane Hayrat mit mir” is a typical song from the Yiddish theater of the 1910s when Mary Roten learned it. She sings it in a “Litvish” dialect – “em” instead of “im”, “farfleygn” instead of “farfloygn”  “di land” instead of “dos land” etc.

I have not yet found the composer, author or possible play where it was performed but I would bet the melody is taken from a popular American tune of the time period. Does anyone recognize it?

Photograph from the Jewish Museum of Maryland

The singer Mary Roten was born in 1900 and died in 1993. In the above photograph she is teaching her nursery class at the Baltimore Jewish Educational Alliance, circa 1930. 

The recording of this song was done by Gertrude Nitzberg who donated the recording to the Jewish Historical Society of Maryland, now part of the Jewish Museum of Maryland. Nitzberg was a teacher and collector of Yiddish folksongs, stories and life history. For more on Gertrude Nitzberg read her obituary here.

Nitzberg was 81 years old when she died in 2000.  In the Museum description of the collection, it mentions 20 tapes of field-recordings of singers. 

Note on the words to “Khane, heyrat mit mir”:
“Mashin” means sewing machine.
“COD” means Cash on Delivery
“Operator” = sewing machine operator

TRANSLITERATION

In a fektori lebn a mashin,
zitst a yunger-man,
in der land iz er grin.
Lebn em zitst a yunge meydele,
shtendik zi neyt.
Un zi trakht vegn dem operaterl
vos zingt ir dos lid:

Refrain:

Khane, heyrat mit mir.
Ales vel ikh ton far dir.
Mir veln lebn, sheyn, a prakht.
Ikh vel arbetn shver tog un nakht
far mayn frumer Khanele. 

Yorn hobn farfleygn,
heyrat hobn zey.
Got hot zey geshonken
mit kinderlekh tsvey.
Yetst haltn zey a “biznes” [ business],
a kleyn “groseri.”  [grocery]
un farkeyfn tsu ale kustomers
by COD. 

Fraytik tsu nakht
zitsndik baym tish,
iber di lange lokshn,
un iber di gefilte fish,
zogt zi tsu em:
“Tsi gedenkstu di tsayt ven
du host gezungen dos lid?”.

Refrain:

Khane, heyrat mit mir.
Ales vel ikh ton far dir.
Mir veln lebn, sheyn, a prakht.
Ikh vel arbetn shver tog un nakht
far mayn frumer Khanele. 

TRANSLATION

In a factory, near a machine,
sits a young man,
in this land he is “green”.
Next to him sits a girl
who always is sewing.
And she thinks about the operator
who sings her this song:

Refrain:

Khane, marry me.
I will do everything for you.
We will live wonderfully, a wonder.
I will work hard all day and night.
For my pious Khanele. 

Years flew by;
they were married.
God gave them a gift
of two children.
Now they have a business,
a little grocery store.
And all the customers pay
COD [cash on delivery]

Friday night, sitting at the table,
with the long noodles and with gefilte fish,
she says to him:
“Do you remember when
you sang me this song?”

Refrain:

Khane, heyrat mit mir.
Ales vel ikh ton far dir.
Mir veln lebn, sheyn, a prakht.
Ikh vel arbetn shver tog un nakht
far mayn frumer Khanele. 

A Second Melody for “Katshke grin” Performed by Abba Rubin

A Second Melody for “Katshke grin”
Performed by Abba Rubin, recorded by Rachel Rubin 1991.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman.

The Yiddish children’s song “Katshke grin”, also known as “Geyt arum a grine katshke” and “Grine katshke”,  has been recorded but with a different melody. This week we present a previously unknown melody for the song. The singer, Abba Rubin, was recorded by his daughter Rachel Rubin at the same field recording session as the previously posted Burekes af Peysekh in 1991.

The words to Katshke grin were written by artist and writer Zuni Maud (1891 – 1956) and printed in Kinder Zhurnal, a monthly Yiddish children’s magazine published by the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute in NYC, where he often contributed poetry and drawings.

Zuni Maud’s frequent collaborator was artist/writer Yosl Cutler and together they created the first successful Yiddish puppet theater Modicut (1925 – 1933) in NY. According to Edward Portnoy who wrote on the radical Modicut troupe, Mikhl Gelbart and Moyshe Rappaport wrote much of the music for Modicut, so perhaps one of them was the composer of one or both of the melodies.

Mariam Nirenberg sings Grine katshke with another melody on her record Folksongs in the East European Tradition: Mariam Nirenberg (Global Village GV M117).  You can hear Niremberg’s version on iTunes. She only sings one verse and the duck has a red nose, not a broad one as in Rubin’s version. Nirenberg emigrated from her town Czarnawcyce, Poland (Yiddish = Tsharnovtshits) to Canada in 1932.

The song, with Nirenberg’s melody, become more popular recently thanks to the CD recording Di grine katshke/The Green Duck (Living Traditions, 1997).  There it is sung with four verses by Henry Sapoznik.

Thanks for their help for this week’s post go to Abba Rubin, Edward Portnoy and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett. 

TRANSLITERATION

Katshke grin, breyte noz
un keyner veyst nisht vos iz dos.

Geyt arum a grine katshke,
geyt arum un trakht.
volt zi davenen shakhris
falt shoyn tsu di nakht.

Katshke grin, breyte noz
un keyner veyst nisht vos iz dos.

Geyt arum a grine katshke
geyt arum un kayt.
Volt zi brokn lokshn
hot zi nit keyn tsayt.

Katshke grin, breyte noz
un keyner veyst nisht vos iz dos.

Geyt arum a grine katshke
mit a breyter noz.
Volt zi shmekn tabak
hot zi nisht mit vos.

Kashke grin, breyte noz
un keyner veyst nisht vos iz dos.

TRANSLATION

Green duck, wide nose,
and no one knows what this is.

A green duck wanders,
wanders and thinks:
She would pray the morning prayers
but night has just fallen.

Green duck, wide nose,
and no one knows what this is.

A green duck wanders,
wanders and chews.
She would cut up the noodles,
but she doesn’t have the time.

Green duck, wide nose,
and no one knows what this is.

A green duck wanders,
with a wide nose.
She would smell tobacco,
but she doesn’t have with what.

Green duck, wide nose,
and no one knows what this is.