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)
About this project ♦ ♦ About Jane Peppler
List of the still-lost songs: do you know any of them?
Search the blog:

This is Sam Kestin, who sang this song in the operetta Khantshe in Amerike (my feature on the title song is here: Chantshe in America) in 1913. It's usually seen as merely "Ich hob."

A year later, Bennie Zeidmann recorded it. Zeidman was born in 1886 in Teplik, Kiev Gubernia, Ukraine. His father was a cantor and he, at the age of seventeen, conducted the choir for for Cantor Lipshitz in the Cannon Street Synagogue. He also started acting. In 1906 he came to America. He played vaudeville and Yiddish theater. (Thanks to the Museum of Family History)

Its trick is grammatical; it plays on the difference between Ikh hob (I have) and Ikh hob... gevolt, gezen, etc. (I wanted, I saw).

Unusually, all four verses were recorded. It took up both sides of the 78. You'll never find this song by searching because it is drowned in 1,000s of recordings of "Ikh hob dikh tsufil lib." So here it is:


Text and translation after the jump.




Don't think I have no money, I have ($50,000 in the bank)
seen, so I can swear to you it's a large sum, I think.
Believe me, I'm not lacking anything in the world.
I have (a property on Clinton Street)
had the possibility of buying... but because I don't have any money
Somebody else bought it, you see.
I have (a fiancee with cash - a $50,000 dowry)
never been able to snag because I'm married to my wife.

In brief: I have everything one needs.
I'm not lying, no! I have (everything I need) seen in someone else's possession.

I have (a watch and chain, and a locket set with a lovely diamond)
Seen once in my boss's vest pocket.
He also wears a diamond ring when it suits him.
I have (an overcoat with a silk lining, with fur cuffs and collar,
With fancy pockets, with a lot of designing)
Seen in a big clothing store.
My wife has (twenty new dresses, a diamond necklace, God be praised,
A hat with such a big feather) wanted for a long time.

I have (a serving girl who can care for the kids,
Cook, bake, a one-of-a-kind in the world)
Wanted to bring into the house for a long time,
But I've been put out into the street.
I have (a cash inheritance from a departed uncle)
Never in my life received because my uncle's alive and has no money.
I have (a suit made to order from fine material, elegant and pretty)
Seen today on my neighbor's boarder.
I'm jealous of him.

I ask my neighbor: "Save my life, lend me $10 for rent."
Thoughtlessly he lets me know he doesn't have a cent.
I have (a carriage that speeds along without a horse
60 miles an hour, certainly)
Not been able to afford to buy, so I always walk.
Paupers, listen, you shouldn't worry, I'll help you out.
I'll lend each of you a thousand dollars as soon as I'm rich.