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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Huh, another song I posted to youtube quite a while ago and forgot to put on this blog.

Written by Perlmutter, Wohl and Tomashefsky, it was published in 1911 along with three other songs from the show Dos darfs meydl (Country Girl) it is transliterated variously as Dus Bisele Erd and Das Bissele Erd and Das Bissle Erd (see label)

One of those other three songs: As du kenst nit un veyst nit, nemt men zikh nit unter which I recorded a few days ago.

This one gloomily reminds us that in the end all that remains to us is the bit of dirt we're buried in.

A bit of earth from the grave.
People, don't remove it
It's a part of the limbs
People, don't forget.

This is what remains to you from all the fruits of your labor,
This is what remains to you from all your strength,
This is what remains to you from your riches:
the bit of earth that covers you.

People, don't forget your father, mother, friends,
People, don't forget the worth of a human being.
While you live, tomorrow and today,
Remember the grave and that bit of earth.

You seek to enjoy the world, riches and high living,
But people, you should know what's waiting for you
You think you'll live forever
You don't want to think about it
You'll have to give an accounting of yourself
When you come to your eternal home

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

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Labels: religion, travails