Vert a boarder! A guy actually praises his wife for once! To the tune "Lebn zol Kolumbus"
Morris Rund wrote the lyrics to this song and specifies "Sing to the tune of Lebn zol Kolumbus" - that song can be heard at the FAU site, an absolutely wonderful 1916 recording sung by Abraham Rosenstein: Leben sol Columbus! The original song was written by Lyricist: Boris Thomashefsky; Composer: Arnold Perlmutter; Composer Herman Wohl. (The sheet music is at the Library of Congress site under the title Leben sol Columbus)By the way, if you want to hear more of Abraham Rosenstein, on Youtube you can listen to:
Vos di milkhome hot gemakht
Dos reydl
Fun vigl biz in keyver
What a voice!
But to get back to the present text... I am delighted that a Yiddish song about a praiseworthy wife has finally surfaced. I suppose this whole text is awash with vague innuendo and double entendre. Jewish men were certainly wondering, while they were at work, about what was happening at home with the wife and the boarder(s). Here's my recording (with English subtitles, as always):
Here's my translation from the Yiddish:
I got married not long ago and I got a wife, an interesting creature,
She has a lot of boarders, praise God: three dozen, what a good deal!
It's happy in our house, one lives as in Paradise
My wife tends twenty-three boys and I tend 17 girls.
So, what do you say about this job? A blessing on my wife's head!
Long live my wife, she's no ordinary vulgar woman.
She's pretty as a dove, she gives the boarders plenty.
Food, drink, everything is in order.
So don't think twice, boys, become my boarder!
You should see the act at supper when the boys sit at the table.
My wife gives each boarder chopped meat, they eat and sweat.
The girls, I take care of them (to make things easier for my wife).
I give them borsht with a marrow bone, yum, they lick their fingers.
Khantshe and Dvore chatter - Viere sticks a pickle in soup stock...
Shloyme "Adam's Apple" lives with me, ask him, he'll tell you:
He pays for one but eats for four, and his stomach's doing just fine.
My wife says he's all right though he comes stealing food from her pots
And whenever Shloyme has time, she gives him dumplings to eat.
And Shloyme, that fine guy, he eats with appetite!
For Shabes my wife prepares a pot with all the seven blessings:
A stuffed derma, a chicken's foot, a head;
We ask her to put the cholent in the oven.
When it's time to eat, Hanine Bronye and Mishke sit at the table
Yente and Sashe grab the fish and Ginendl brings the derma.
Dvoyre with the red braid, she just brings the head...
She has a lot of boarders, praise God: three dozen, what a good deal!
It's happy in our house, one lives as in Paradise
My wife tends twenty-three boys and I tend 17 girls.
So, what do you say about this job? A blessing on my wife's head!
Long live my wife, she's no ordinary vulgar woman.
She's pretty as a dove, she gives the boarders plenty.
Food, drink, everything is in order.
So don't think twice, boys, become my boarder!
You should see the act at supper when the boys sit at the table.
My wife gives each boarder chopped meat, they eat and sweat.
The girls, I take care of them (to make things easier for my wife).
I give them borsht with a marrow bone, yum, they lick their fingers.
Khantshe and Dvore chatter - Viere sticks a pickle in soup stock...
Shloyme "Adam's Apple" lives with me, ask him, he'll tell you:
He pays for one but eats for four, and his stomach's doing just fine.
My wife says he's all right though he comes stealing food from her pots
And whenever Shloyme has time, she gives him dumplings to eat.
And Shloyme, that fine guy, he eats with appetite!
For Shabes my wife prepares a pot with all the seven blessings:
A stuffed derma, a chicken's foot, a head;
We ask her to put the cholent in the oven.
When it's time to eat, Hanine Bronye and Mishke sit at the table
Yente and Sashe grab the fish and Ginendl brings the derma.
Dvoyre with the red braid, she just brings the head...
For sheet music and/or performances contact me: jane@mappamundi.com
Labels: food, history, humor, love, male chauvinism, New York, nostalgia
by melinama @ 6:37 PM
Yiddish Ragtime
Ikh bin busy
Opgenarte velt
Vos hot men tsu mir
Der East Side fun amol
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