Yiddish Penny Songs: Kolumbuses medine (Columbus

Columbus's Country
by Louis Gilrod
to sing with the melody of
"Love a Lassy"

Sir Harry Lauder (1870-1950) was a Scottish vaudeville/music hall performer. A flax-mill worker and a miner as a child, he was, in 1911 (according to Wikipedia), the highest-paid performer in the world, and the first British artist to sell a million records. This song, from 1906, was his biggest hit.

Louis Gilrod's parody includes many common tropes. Of particular interest to me were two images: first, of the bride on one floor of a tenement house and a corpse on another - this reappears in a song collected by Ruth Rubin in the 1950s, sung to the melody of In the Shade Of The Old Apple Tree and discussed on my other blog: In a hoyz vu men veynt un men lakht.

Second, the mix-up of taking the bride and groom to the cemetery and the corpse to the chuppah. This reappears in Ludwig Satz's A mentsh ken dokh makhn a mol a toes of 1923.

Here's my living room recording from this morning:

Transliteration and translation of the Yiddish after the jump.

Kolumbuses medine
fun Louis Gilrod
tsu zingen mit der melodiye fun
"Love a Lassy"

Kolumbuses medine gelt oys ale grine
Der grester flokn vert do bald a layt (simpleton, blockhead)
In yeder hinter gesl kokht un zidt vi in a kesl
Un yeder vert do opgekokht oll rayt
In der heym geven a trayber,
Vert do bald a tsaytung-shrayber,
A ganev vert a "keshir" in a benk.
In der heym geven a shuster,
Do, a doktor a bavuster,
Trogt a "stovepipe" un farshteyt a gute krenk.

Kolumbuses medine, do rut af ales di shkhine.
Shvindlen, blofn iz do nit keyn shand.
Kenstu nit zayn keyn feyker,
Bistu nit keyn money meyker
In Kolumbuses golden land.

In di Ist Sayd geslekh, vi hering in di feslekh,
Gepakt mit mentshn iz yeder hoyz.
Afn ershtn flor a kale, es vintshn mazl tov ir ale,
Afn tsveytn flor a toyter ligt af d'rerd.
Es shteyn keridzshes a raye tsu der khipe un der levaye,
Me yogt zikh un me zetst zikh af gants shur.
Nor der drayver (ot der goylem)
Firt khosn-kale tsum beys oylem
Un dem toytn firt er tsu der khipe gor!

Kolumbuses medine, do rut af ales di shkhine.
Vos iz men in dem land den nit imshtand?
Me heyrat on a fidl skripe,
Me firt meysim tsu der khipe
In Kolumbuses golden land.

Columbus's country

Columbus's country, all the greenhorns turn yellow.
The greatest blockhead quickly becomes respectable.
Every back street cooks and boils like a kettle
And everybody here gets cooked up all right.

He was a driver back home, he soon becomes a newspaper writer.
A thief becomes a cashier in a bank.
Back home, a shoemaker -
Here, a well-known doctor
Who wears a top hat and understands shady business.

Columbus's country, here God's spirit rests on everything.
Swindling and bluffing are no shame here.
If you can't be a faker you're no money maker
In Columbus's golden land.

In the streets of the East side, like herring in barrels,
Every house is packed with people.
On the first floor there's a bride, everybody's wishing her the best of luck,
On the second floor a corpse lies on the ground.

There's a row of carriages ready to go to the wedding and the funeral.
People are rushing around and taking their seats.
But the driver, that dummy,
Takes the bride and groom to the cemetery
And he takes the corpse right to the chuppah!

Columbus's country, here God's spirit rests on everything.
What is there that a person can't do in this land?
Folks marry without the scrape of a fiddle,
corpses are carried
to the wedding canopy
in Columbus's golden land.

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

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Kolumbuses medine (Columbus's Land) - 1911 parody of Harry Lauder's "I Love A Lassy"

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