Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
Index of songs on this site
Youtube: all the Penny Songs I've recorded so far (with subtitles)
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List of the still-lost songs: do you know any of them?
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This song from 1911 is called "Bisness in America" on the first inside page. aka "Biznes in Amerika" - it's in the American Yiddish Penny Songs collection.

Note below that only the title of the song is written in Yiddish letters, the rest is in English, and that the old world spelling "Amerike" has been Americanized to "Amerika" in Yiddish. This song: another succinct little bolus of cynicism.

I don't know anything about Alex Silberstein, who wrote and also performed this brief song. As Alex Silverstein he recorded the song on the Columbia label in 1912 (as Business in America or ביזנעס אין אמעריקע (though on the sheet music it's spelled ביזנעס אין אמעריקא)

Click on the picture below to see the video of "Biznes in Amerika" I recorded yesterday:


And here is a promotional "news" article about the up-and-coming singer, on his way to Europe to become an opera singer! It was sent to me by a generous anonymous donor!

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For sheet music and/or performances contact me: jane@mappamundi.com

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Labels: humor, morality, mores, New York, politics, sarcasm