Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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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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Morris Rund: did he really hate his wife this much or did he just think it was good business to write song after song about awful wives? Wives who were lazy, who shagged the boarders, who ran away from home, who left the husbands with the kids, who were suffragettes, or - here - who annoyingly wanted their husbands to stay home with him?

The Jewish comedians of the twentieth century, the tumlers and the Borscht Belt comedians, they were sure dissing their wives was good for endless laughs. Did the women in the audiences laugh too? What did Morris Rund's wife say about this?

I'm not singing this song. I already recorded a different song with the same tune (Got un zayn mishpet iz gerekht - Rund used it for several songs. It's here: Dem arbeters trer. If you are making a study of early twentieth century misogyny and would like 'Tif in drerd' recorded, or if you want the sheet music, let me know.

Here are the words of Tif in dr'erd and also my translation. Rund uses an odd word,
שֹנאין which apparently rhymes with tuen in his dialect. I think it is a variation on the plural of
שֹינא meaning hostility, but I'm not sure.

I usually translate tif in dr'erd, literally deep in the ground, as "go to hell," though it's more like "die and get buried" I guess. At the bottom of the post is the original song sheet.



I never in my life had a bad time
Until God gave me a trouble, a nuisance for a wife
She has a kind of hostility in her, she watches my every step
She doesn't do anything at home, she gnaws at my blood like a worm
She's endlessly jealous of me, she runs after me
"What do you want from me?" I ask her
Just listen to the answer she gives!

I love you, you are my destined one,
If you don't obey me, go to hell
Because a man should love to sit with his wife at home
If not, may you lie deep in the ground

She demanded I sit in the house all the time
Until I lost my patience, I had to fight with her
Now she asks, don't I want to know,
"You're a rotten husband. As far as I'm concerned
You can go to prison until you improve."
So she ran straight to court and complained about me there.
What do you want from me? I ask her,
Just listen to the answer she gives! (refrain)

She had me arrested for six months
The months passed quickly and I was soon free
Now I'm not afraid of her
I often give it to her with a stick, not like before.
She lies at home like a dog and I go where I please
She asks me, "How long will this go on?"
I answer quietly,

I love you, you are my destined one
I'd like to see you nine cubits under ground
Because a wife should love to let her husband leave the house
If not, go to hell.

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

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Labels: battle between the sexes, humor, male chauvinism, marriage, morality, mores, sarcasm