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I've previously featured two or three other songs with lyrics by Isaac Reingold, a Chicago-based Yiddish lyricist who died young. He and several others were hired to write Yiddish lyrics to popular American songs...

... and this angry text is set, incomprehensibly, to a cheerful and risque number by Felix McGlennon and Monroe Rosenfeld written for the 1894 show The Shop Girl: "during the run of the show, some of the racier lines were removed, as Edwards recognised that the future of musicals lay in appealing to the respectable Victorian audience."

Here's the original chorus:

The sheet music is at Mississippi State University Digital Collections ...

... and you can see Dale Evans sing it (with a naughty little twinkle) on Youtube: And Her Golden Hair Was Hanging Down Her Back

So here is my rendition of Reingold's sad comment on modern life (as true today as it was in 1909):


Transliteration and translation after the jump:


I didn't record the fifth verse. It's true, the anarchists really did hold Yom Kippur balls.

Di mentshn zaynen zeyer fardorbn, in der nayer tsayt
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Men tut op alerlay farbrekhn, ofn, fray far layt,
Un der liber got zet ales tsu un shvagt
Mentshn shlingen eyns dos tsveyte vi di fish in yam
Shoyderhafte blider zet men, tsum bagreyfn koym
Falshkeyt shpilt di greste role, varheyt ligt in thom
un di liber got zet ales tsu un shvaygt

Nor vayl ikh bin keyn apikoyres nit
Gloyb ikh, un ikh red oykh yenem ayn
Ven der Herr boyre dort redt keyn vort
Iz a simn az es darf azoy tsu zayn

2.
Dort vert eyner raykh un gliklekh nor durkh fremde hent
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Dort vil eyner gring fardinen, tsindet er un brent
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

Dort lebt zikh eyner vi a graf, hot ales umgeshtert
Felder, velder, zilber, gold, karetn, diner, ferd,
Un der vos shaft im ales gutes, der ligt tif in dr'erd
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

3.
Dort makht zikh eyner fir a tsadik, ver ken im farshteyn?
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Er shpilt a libe mit der shkheyne, keyner zol nit zen,
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

Dort farlozt men vayb un kinder, in der grester noyt
Nito dort ver es zol zey shtitsn, mit a shtikl broyt
Un do shtelt der man a khupe mit an ander moyd
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,


chorus

4. Dort lebt eyner Pan Protsent, un zoygt dem tsveytns blut
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Er roybt un gazlt, un es glikt im ales vos er tut
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

"Here" kumt a shoykhet, vert nor plutsling doktor meditsin
Er ken aykh tsaygn a diplom - shtudirt hot er in Vien...
Un nemt bay kranke tsu dos letste, shikt zey op ahin
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

chorus

5.
Dort vern khsidim missionern, spitshn fray in holl
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Un dortn makhn anarkhistn a yomkiper ball
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,
Dort vert af shvindl un batrug, a ? oyfgeboyt
Men kukt nit vos dos folk iz orem vos es laydet noyt
Far yedes shtikl bosor kosher? shindt men op di hoyt!
Un der liber Got zet ales tsu un shvaygt,

chorus

People are very corrupt these days
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
All kinds of criminal offenses are committed, openly and freely
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
People swallow each other like the fish in the sea
You see ghastly scenes one can hardly comprehend
Falseness plays the greatest role, truth lies in the abyss
And our dear God sees everything and is silent

But because I'm not a heretic
I believe, and tell everyone:
Since our God does not utter a word
It's a sign things are supposed to be this way.

2.
There, one gets rich and happy by another's labor,
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
There one wants easy money so he bombs and burns things
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
There one lives like a nobleman, nobody in his way, he's got everything:
Fields, woods, zilver, gold, coaches, servants, horses,
And the one who made all these things is buried in hardship
And our dear God sees everything and is silent

3.
There one pretends to be a holy man, who can understand him?
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
He has a love affair with the neighbor, nobody can know,
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
There, people have lost their wives and children, in the greatest deprivation
There's nobody to help with a bit of bread
And here, her husband marries a different girl
And our dear God sees everything and is silent

4.
There lives a usurer, sucking another's blood,
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
He robs and thieves, enjoying everything he does,
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
Here comes a ritual slaughterer, now suddenly he's a doctor of medicine
He can show you a diploma - he studied in Vienna...
He takes the last dollar from the sick, then sends them away,
And our dear God sees everything and is silent

5.
There, chasidim become missionaries giving speeches freely in the hall
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
And there, anarchists throw a Yom Kippur ball
And our dear God sees everything and is silent
There ? is built by swindling and deceit
It isn't noticed that the folk are poor and suffering deprivation
For every bit of kosher meat your skin is flayed!
And our dear God sees everything and is silent

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

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Labels: crime, humor, morality, mores, sarcasm, travails