Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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I've posted quite a few parodies by Isaac Reingold, folk bard of Chicago who later moved to New York and who died young of drinking and disappointment. This one is set to the amusingly hokey and old-fashioned tune, "Molly and I and the Baby." Roger Lynn Spears played the piano part for me yesterday and I recorded the vocals this morning (condensing Reingold's 5 verses into 4), click to listen/watch:



Reingold was one of the rhymesters paid by Yiddish music publishing companies to create Yiddish versions of popular American songs. He loved to play with the meanings of the songs he parodied, so he presents his own crooked family in contrast to the one in the song Harry Kennedy published in 1892. (Find the original words in the Toledo Blade, October 4 1923, in the "Poet's Corner."

MOLLY AND I AND THE BABY.
Copyright, 1899, by Will H. Kennedy, Agent.
Words and Music by Harry Kennedy.

I've a neat little cottage, and in it does dwell
Molly and I and the baby;
And I'm sure that for comfort no king can excel
Molly and I and the baby.
My dear little Molly is just twenty-three,
The baby's turned one and between you and me.
We're the nicest young family you ever did see,
Molly and I and the baby.

Chorus.
Molly, Molly, always so jolly, always laughing, chock full of glee,
Living as happy as happy can be, Molly and I and the baby.

Now we care not for riches or palaces grand,
Molly and I and the baby;
For I'm sure we'd not change with the best in the land,
Molly and I And the baby.
When I get home from work with my babe on my knee,
I sit in my arm chair, while Molly makes tea.
Then we dine at a table that only seats three,
Molly And I And the baby.-Chorus.

Every bright Sunday morning to church we will go,
Molly and I and the baby;
As we walk down the street all the people they know
Molly and I and the baby.
Now Molly's a girl that you'd all like to meet.
Her ways are so charming, her smile is so sweet;
If you chance to be our way, just drop in and greet
Molly and I and the baby.- Chorus.

(Click for a larger view.)

Reingold was not the only one to set Yiddish words to this melody. In Abraham Cahan's 1896 Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto we see:

... he used to mention his Gitl and his Yosselé so frequently and so enthusiastically, that some wags among the Hanover Street tailors would sing "Yekl and wife and the baby" to the tune of "Molly and I and the Baby."

It's too bad the broadside's picture of the singer, Abraham Fishkind, didn't print very well! But here's Fishkind about a quarter century later, from the only movie he ever made (I think),  called "The Light Ahead," 1939 (he must be the old guy on the right). I looked him up at Ancestry.com and found an Abraham Fishkind, theater actor, born Lumberg, Austria, came to NY 1892, naturalized 1902, lived on Eldridge st. His wife was Molly or May or Mary and he had a son, Charles. Like many actors he was reluctant to give his age, his birth year ranged from 1855 to 1867.

Here's the whole song, transliteration and translation:


Who plays the main role these days?
My beautiful family and I.
Who has such a name that resounds far and wide?
My beautiful family and I.
When our family extends so widely and there's a whole bundle of swindlers and thieves
Who is often terrified of the "blue coats"? My beautiful family and I.

But we always have blessings and success in our trade, in almost everything.
And who stick out their tongues at the policemen? My beautiful family and I.

Think about that merchant who does his trading at night, he's from our beautiful family.
He's already spent a long time in Sing-Sing prison because he's a member of our beautiful family.
A nice little bit of thievery he happened to find, I swear, he's never been nabbed.
And who's been getting beaten up? My beautiful family and I.

But blessings and success in our trade, the bones will mend, it's no big deal,
And who lives to steal again, often and freely? My beautiful family and I.

There goes a guy wandering among strangers, he's a member of our beautiful family.
He's barefoot and naked, three weeks the same shirt, because he's in our beautiful family.
He goes 3-4 days without eating, he's fainting for a drink and a big meal
Who steals bagels and sleeps in the train? My beautiful family and I.

Blessings and success in our trade, even when we get nabbed - that's what I think.
Who runs away from Sing-Sing at night? My beautiful family and I.

There's a guy in a stovepipe hat in the shul - he's a member of our family.
The stovepipe suits him like a shtreml suits a pig 'cause he's part of our family.
Although in Europe he was just a shoemaker, working with leather and patches,
Here they call him "Reverend" and you know what: Our family is successful.

Blessings, success in our trade, give thanks to this country, it makes people respectable.
Folks waggle their fingers and look askance at me and my beautiful family.

Consider that girl walking around at night:
She's a member of our family.
She's having a good time, she smiles, she laughs,
She's a member of our family.
A nice little face, I tell you, a regular portrait.
And do you see that waist, how pretty and snug it is?
Who is she? I bet you know:
She's a member of our family.

Blessings and success in our trade, that's what we always have, it isn't hard for us.
I feel pride and joy when I have a look at myself, at my beautiful family.

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

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Labels: crime, humor, immigration, male chauvinism, mores, New York, nostalgia, politics, religion