Vu nemt men a fraynd? Where do you find a friend? Yiddish theater song.
Morris Rund was a such a grouchy guy, I'm not surprised he didn't have any friends. But there are so VERY MANY Yiddish songs on this theme. Were things really as bad as all that? Did children treat their parents as badly as in the dozens of songs like A brivele der mamen? Did wives really run off with the boarders? I know singers liked to sing about such things and evidently audiences were singing along.I previously posted a historic recording of Morris Goldstein singing the underlying melody in 1918: Ven men ruft dikh tsurik. For my recording today of Vu nemt men a fraynd, as usual I've sped it up considerably. Click below to hear/see (as Rund writes in his dialect) "Vi nemt men a fraynd" -
Here's the transcription and translation:
Batrakht nor mentsh oy gut di velt vi falsh a yeder iz haynt
Koym bistu orem, host keyn gelt, krign kenstu nit keyn fraynd.
A yeder lakht ven dir iz shlekht keyner filt nit dayn noyt.
Du krigst nit keyn fraynd khotsh zukh im mit likht
Derfar nor vayl dir felt af broyt
Okh mentsh vi falsh iz haynt di velt
Der bester fraynd meynt nor dayn gelt
Koym bistu, mentsh, raykh hostu fraynd a sakh
Vos shmeykhlen dikh teg azoy nekht.
Zey zukhn fun dir tsu krign dayn guts dayn raykhtum farmegn
Keyn rikhtikn fraynd gefinstu nit haynt
Khotsh nem un zukh im mit likht.
Batrakht nor mentsh ot dort dem man vi elnt er lebt yetst zayn velt
Fil fraynd gehat hot er nor dan ven er hot gespent zayn gelt
Yetst ven er iz shvakh un alt zayn raykhthum farlorn hot er
Batrakht im a yeder glaykhgiltik un kalt
Keyn fraynde hot er shoyn nit mer!
Koym bistu orem, host keyn gelt, krign kenstu nit keyn fraynd.
A yeder lakht ven dir iz shlekht keyner filt nit dayn noyt.
Du krigst nit keyn fraynd khotsh zukh im mit likht
Derfar nor vayl dir felt af broyt
Okh mentsh vi falsh iz haynt di velt
Der bester fraynd meynt nor dayn gelt
Koym bistu, mentsh, raykh hostu fraynd a sakh
Vos shmeykhlen dikh teg azoy nekht.
Zey zukhn fun dir tsu krign dayn guts dayn raykhtum farmegn
Keyn rikhtikn fraynd gefinstu nit haynt
Khotsh nem un zukh im mit likht.
Batrakht nor mentsh ot dort dem man vi elnt er lebt yetst zayn velt
Fil fraynd gehat hot er nor dan ven er hot gespent zayn gelt
Yetst ven er iz shvakh un alt zayn raykhthum farlorn hot er
Batrakht im a yeder glaykhgiltik un kalt
Keyn fraynde hot er shoyn nit mer!
Consider the world well, how false everyone is these days!
As soon as you're poor and have no money, you won't have a friend.
Everyone laughs when things are bad for you, nobody feels your suffering.
You won't get a friend even if you seek him with a lantern
Just because you don't have money for bread.
Oh, how false the world is today!
Your best friend is just thinking of your money.
As soon as you're rich you'll have lots of friends
Who will smile with you day and night.
They're planning to get your goods, your riches,
These days you won't find a real friend
Even if you search with a lantern.
Consider that man over there: how lonely his world is now!
He had lots of friends when he was spending his money.
Now that he's weak and old, he's lost his riches.
Everybody looks at him with cold indifference.
He doesn't have a single friend any more!
For sheet music and/or performances contact me: jane@mappamundi.com
by melinama @ 2:16 PM
Yiddish Ragtime
Ikh bin busy
Opgenarte velt
Vos hot men tsu mir
Der East Side fun amol
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home