Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
Index of songs on this site
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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Click for a larger view of this magnificent Yiddish sheet music cover. The cover can be seen on several websites, but I don't think there's a recording of the song itself. So I made one.

I can't say this is my favorite Penny Song, but it does have an interesting twist. I'm sure the song was written following the massive success of A brivele der mamen - but in this case, the son is not ungrateful and forgetful. He sends his dad money, letters, and even a ticket to come to America. It's the officials at Ellis Island who are the villains. This father "did not have the strength of a giant" so he was rejected by the immigration officials.

After years of owning my Yamaha keyboard I finally read part of the owner's manual yesterday and figured out how to run a Sibelius sheet music file out into the keyboard so I could record it. I wanted to do an accompaniment which was pretty close to Rumshinsky's piano arrangement, but even though his arrangement is very easy, it's too hard for me. So the computer played it.

On the original sheet music, many phrases ended with words accented on the final syllable. I have heard period recordings like that so I guess it was acceptable, but I had it drilled into me to accent the penultimate syllable.

After recording this I wished I'd sung it slower and lower, but I'm not about to do it again!


One final comment: I went to quite a bit of trouble to clean up the original transliteration (printed in the sheet music) to use in this video. It demonstrates the daytshmerish (Germanic) spelling which is horrifying to today's Yiddish students and teachers but which was the norm in New York Yiddish sheet music publishing houses around the turn of the century. If you want to search for Yiddish lyrics, you should consider they may be spelled this way online.

YIVO transliteration and translation after the jump.



"Child, I can't force you to live in poverty with me any long,
So go with good luck, but swear to me you'll write a letter to your dad.
Death stole your mother, wrested away my best friend,
So now I'm trusting in you to sweeten my life.

And in the end I'm alone, like a stone.
And you, my only consolation, must go! (oy)

Write a letter to your father, every week a piece of paper,
It'll drive away my loneliness, I'm desolate without you, child.
Take my blessings as you go, achieve the highest degree of progress.
So whatever happens with you now, don't forget to write your dad.

The son kept his word, he supported his dad with money and wrote him letters
He also sent him a ship ticket, now the dad travels to his beloved son.
An end to desolation! The old man feels the greatest happiness.
And between decks on the ship he describes his celebration to all the Jews.
"My suffering is destroyed! I'm traveling happily to my son."
The fathers words made quite an impression!

In Ellis Island it was decreed that the old man must be sent back.
He lacked the strength of a giant so his joy is over.
They didn't let his son see him, their two hearts were bloodied.
No tears, no efforts made a difference - they must be separated forever.
The old man's woe is terrible: the "free land" drove him away.
And through the bars he cries out:

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

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Labels: history, immigration, mores, New York