¨The Yiddish Mate Tea Song” Performed by Clara Bitman

The Yiddish Mate Tea Song / דאָס ייִדישע מאַטע־טייליד
Sung by Clara Bitman, recorded by Itzik Gottesman 1980s.

Clara Bitman learned this song in the 1950s in the Zhitlovsky-shul in Buenos-Aires; a school that was part of the leftist Yidishe kultur-farband organization in Argentina.  She sang it at a Yugntruf “shraybkrayz” [writing circle] in NYC in the 1980s. Thanks this week to Janina Wurbs and Emily Socolov. 

The Yiddish Mate Tea Song

Mume Zlate trinkt a mate
un farbayst a kikhl.
Nokh a mate gist on Zlate
farn feter Mikhl.

Aunt Zlate drinks mate
and snacks on a cookie.
Another mate Zlate pours for 
her uncle Mikhl. 

Feter Mikhl neyt a shikhl
mit der rekhter hant.
Mit der linker, mate trinkt er,
trinken zey banand.

Uncle Mikhl sews a shoe
with his right hand.
WIth his left he drinks mate.
So all three drink together. 

Kumt fun shul der kleyner Shmulik,
hungerik farbayst.
Gist im Zlate on a mate;
trinken ale dray.

Little Shmulik comes home from school
hungry, so he snacks. 
Zlate pours for him a mate,
So all three drink. 

Fun a tetsl nasht dos ketsl
milekh mitn hintl.
Do a lek, do a shmek
sara lib gezindl.

The kitten snacks from a saucer 
some milk with the puppy.
Here a lick, there a whiff – 
what a loving family. 

דאָס מאַטיי־טייליד
געזונגען פֿון קלאַראַ ביטמאַן

מומע־זלאַטע טרינקט אַ מאַטע
.און פֿאַבײַסט אַ קיכל
נאָך אַ מאַטע גיסט אָן זלאַטע
.פֿאַרן פֿעטער מיכל

פֿעטער מיכל נייט אַ שיכל
.מיט דער רעכטער האַנט
מיט דער לינקער, מאַטע טרינקט ער
.טרינקען זיי באַנאַנד

קומט פֿון שול דער קליינער שמואליק
.הונגעריק פֿאַרבײַסט
.גיסט אים זלאַטע אָן אַ מאַטע
.טרינקען אַלע דרײַ

פֿון אַ טעצל נאַשט דאָס קעצל
.מילעך מיטן הינטל
דאָ אַ לעק, דאָ אַ שמעק
.סאַראַ ליב געזינדל

“Ikh bin a blekher” Performed by Lifshe Schaechter-Widman

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.

.איך בין אַ בלעכער
.איך קריך אויף אַלע דעכער
,אַ קעסטל בלעך אַרויפֿגעטראָגן
.אָנגעקלאַפּט און אָנגעשלאָגן
.איך בין אויסגעפֿאָרן אַ וועלט
.איך האָב נישט קיין גראָשן געלט
(גערעדט פֿון מרדכי שעכטער)  „ס’איז אַ קינדערליד”

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

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”).

“Eyn por shikh hobn mir” Performed by Brayndl Rose

Eyn por shikh hobn mir / We have one pair of shoes
Yiddish camp song sung by Brayndl Rose, recorded by Itzik Gottesman at the Greene Family Camp, Waco Texas, 1993.

Commentary by Itzik Gottesman

The singer Brayndl Rose was born in Brest (Yiddish-Brisk) Poland (today Belarus) and came here at the age of ten. Though she said she had learned the song from the Yiddish theater, I was not surprised to see a recording of this song in the music archives of the National Library of Israel, where it was described as a camp song from a Yiddish cultural camp in the US. The singer in that recording was Fradie Pomerantz Friedenreich who wrote the book: Passionate Pioneers: The Story of Secular Yiddish Education in America 1910 – 1960 (2010). She included a CD of Yiddish camp and school songs with the publication.

I would also not be surprised if there were an english language camp song that provided the source, given the American sounding melody and that “Archie” is an American name. At the end of the song, Brayndl Rose says that the song continues using a different piece of clothing in each verse.

TRANSLITERATION

Eyn por shikh hobn mir.
Eyn por shikh un nit mer.
Geyen mir in der letster mode
un tsuzamen keyn mol nit.

REFRAIN

Ven Artshe darf geyn
blayb ikh in shtub aleyn
Ven Artshe darf geyn
blayb ikh in shtub aleyn

Nu, mir lebn zalbenand
in gliklekhn farband.
Sholem-veshalve
veharmonye ikh un er.

Eyn por hoyzn hobn mir,
eyn por hoyzn un nit mer.
Geyen mir in der letster mode
un tsuzamen keyn mol nit.

Ven Artshe darf geyn
blayb ikh in shtub aleyn
Ven Artshe darf geyn
blayb ikh in shtub aleyn.

Nu, mir lebn zalbenand
in gliklekhn farband.
Sholem-veshalve veharmonye
ikh un er.

Eyn rekl hobn mir….
Eyn hut hobn mir…

TRANSLATION

One pair of shoes we have
one pair of shoes and no more.
So we go out in the latest fashion
but never together. 

When Archie must leave
I stay at home alone.
When Archie must leave,
I stay at home alone.

So we live two together
in a happy union.
Peace and quiet and in harmony
he and I. 

One pair of pants we have
one pair of pants and no more.
So we go out in the latest fashion
but never together. 

When Archie must leave
I stay at home alone.
When Archie must leave,
I stay at home alone.

So we live two together
in a happy union.
Peace and quiet and in harmony
he and I. 

One jacket we have…
One hat we have….