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.
Yiddish Song of the Week 