Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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List of the still-lost songs: do you know any of them?
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UPDATE: I found this tune at the FAU website under the name Das shaifele sung by Kalmen Juvelier, or as it says on the website, K. Yovelyer. So now if you want to sing Di tsvey shvester you have the tune:

Dos shefele at the FAU Judaica Sound Archives
Back to the original post The word shund means trash, and it is a word European Yiddish musicians used to describe the operettas (and songs) that were being churned out across the Atlantic in New York City. As Rumshinsky pointed out in his autobiography, that's what the American Yiddish theater audience wanted. They did not want sophistication or subtlety. They wanted florid, predictable melodrama.

Morris Rund, member of Local 100 the Kosher Bakers' Union and also composer and street-seller of broadsides (and folksinger who could be hired for parties), was desperate to sell songs and he could crank out shund at a staggering velocity. I am photoshopping the Yiddish Penny Songs pages because they are so faded and hard to read.



This one, Di tsvey shvester, was the most illegible yet. I know what I did was crazy: I cut-and-pasted every single letter on this page from another of Rund's songs which was more legible. I could have re-entered it in Yiddish in so much less time, but I wanted to preserve the old-fashioned look. This took ALL DAY. I was willing to do it because I'm sick, too sick to sing or do anything really, because it's cold and snowy (yes, even here in North Carolina), and because I get peculiar satisfaction out of this. It wastes time, but then so does surfing the internet, doing sudoku or jigsaw puzzles, and when I'm done I can read this song and so can anybody else.

Ah, but would they want to?

I'm no historian, sociologist, ethnomusicologist or any other kind of "ist" but I opine that Yiddish music from the period covered by the Penny Songs collection, about 1895-1925, is not popular today for obvious reasons. It's shund. It's very Germanic (I'd forgotten that the established Jewish community in America at that time was much more German in origin than it would be later) meaning the tunes have none of the wildness preferred by the klezmer crowd and the spelling and vocabulary are detestable to Yiddishists. And the overweening morality is turgid.

I hate this song for so many reasons. But does that mean it isn't worth reading and thinking about? I've been meaning to ask my daughter, a historian, what the current thinking is about studying periods and people and movements which were not politically correct. Can people bear to think about the patriarchal patronizing sermons within these songs? Should we?

The tune is the same as Dos shefele by Perlmutter & Wohl.

Di sheyninke Esterl - un Khane ir shvesterl Fun Europe gekumen aher Zitst Khane in shepele - geboygn ir kepele Zi arbet un plogt zikh do shver. Nor Ester zi trakht - fun lebn un prakht Raykhtum lukses lebn un guts Es doyert nit fil - eraykht hot zi ir tsil Farkoyft zikh tsu shand un shmuts In samet un in zayd - geyt Esterl gekleyd. Fun shand lebt yetst Esterl, zi lakht fun Khane ir shvesterl Trogt 'jewelry' a sakh - lebt in lukses raykh Zi hot eraykht shnel ir tsil! Nor Khane geboygen (sic) ir kepele - zitst nokh als in shepele Zi arbet dortn shver - mit nodl un mit sher Yo, Khanele! Zi layd un plogt zikh fil. Geheyrat hot Khanele Zi hot shoyn a manele Fir yor shoyn gevorn iz yetst A virten a vaybele A shtilinke taybele Der man irer liebt zi un shetst Zi plogt zikh nit mer Der man arbet far ir Vayl reyn geblibn iz Khane fun zind Zi lebt zikh berit[?] Farlangt keyn lukses nit Yo, Khanele iz gliklekh atsind Zi romt a tent di shtub Zi nemt ales far lib! Yo, gliklekh lebt yetst Khanele Zi liebt un shetst ir manele Zi hot shoyn kinder tsvey Vi shtern laykhtn zey Zi iz a mame un vert geshetst! Nor oft dermont zi ir shvesterl Badoyert di sheynenke Esterl Farzorgn tif in herts Trogt Khanele a shmerts Vayl Esterl lebt nokh fun shande yetst! Farlorn hot Esterl Ir tsukunft ir shvesterl Farlorn ir yugend ir glik Shoyn gro ire herelekh Yetst gist zi mit trerelekh Volt gern shoyn khapn tsurik Zi layd yetst a shrek Ir sheynhayt iz avek Farshvunden ir kheyn iz mit der vint Zi blanket (blondzhet?) arum Fremd elend on a heym Ir ende iz shreklekh atsind Tsebrokhn krank un mid Zi valgert zikh in strit. Yo, shreklekh layd yetst Esterl Makone iz zi ir shvesterl Zi layd yetst hunger, noyt Bet a shtikl broyt. Fun keyn lukses denkt zi nit! Nor gliklekh iz yetst Khanele Zi iz fun kinder a mamele Farhayret iz zi yetst Der man zi libt un shetst Nor Esterl, zi valgert zikh in strit.

The beautiful Ester and her sister Hannah came here from Europe. Hannah sits in the shop, her little head bent over She works and is so plagued. But Ester, she thought about life, and beauty, Riches, luxurious living, that good stuff It didn't take long, she achieved her goal, She sold herself into shame and filth She is dressed in velvet and silk. Esterl makes her living from shame now, she laughs at her sister Hannah She wears a lot of jewelry, she lives in luxury She achieved her goal so swiftly! But Hannah bends her head - she's still sitting in the shop She works hard there - with the needle and shears - Hey, Hannah! She suffers and is much tormented. Hannah got married, she has a husband already. It's been four years now, she's a little homemaker, a little wife, A quiet little dove Her husband loves her and values her She's no longer plagued Her husband works for her Because Hannah remained pure and without sin She lives ?, doesn't demand any luxury Yes, Khanele is happy now She cleans and takes care of the house She does everything out of love! Yo, Hannah is living happily now She loves and values her husband She already has two children They light up like stars She is a mother and is valued! But she often thinks of her sister Feels bad about the beautiful Ester Worries deep in her heart Hannah carries a heartache Because Ester is still living from "shame" Ester lost her future and her sister He lost her youth and her happiness Now her tears are pouring forth She'd like to go back She is suffering terribly now She lost her beauty, Her charm disappeared like the wind She wanders around among strangers, desolate, homeless Now her end looks terrible Broken, sick, and tired, She wanders the streets Yo, Ester is now suffering terribly She envies her sister She is suffering hunger, deprivation, She begs for a bit of bread She isn't thinking about luxury now! But Hannah is happy, She is the mother of children She is now married Her man loves and values her But Ester, she wanders the streets

Labels: male chauvinism, morality, nostalgia