Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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The rest, you yourself understand
by Isaac Reingold
To sing with the melody from the English song Oh! Ebenezer!



I posted another song with this same theme -  Shtoys Zikh On ("Figure It Out"), I guess Vaudeville audiences have enjoyed feeling superior guessing the barely-hidden double or single entendres behind these verses.

The original song was by Dave Reed Jr.

This was one of the rare cases where the lyrics in Lider magazin were not nigh unreadable, so I used them in the video; I want folks to see what the songs look like in the original.

Here's my recording from this morning:



Transliteration from the Yiddish and translation after the jump.

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A man who was in jail for a while because he robbed people
Finally escaped on his own, that's what they tell me here.
Now he has a saloon, certainly a well known one,
And he does such business there, I can't talk about it,
But do the police not know who and what he is?
How can this be? I ask myself.

I ask people what this means.
"Why do you have to ask? It's all right!
They know everything and leave him alone
Just because... you understand the rest."

I know some one who is not yet a speculator, not a factory owner,
He doesn't have a bank, he's also not a doctor who understands illness.
But of course he lives richly and wears nice clothes.
He's also not living off his father-in-law, he isn't eating on charity,
And of course he doesn't work at anything--but he drinks and gobbles.
His wife accepts only respectable, very wealthy guests
And that's all people know

I ask people what this means.
"Why do you have to ask? It's all right!
His wife is loveable and very beautiful
Well, and you understand the rest."

I know a craftsman who earns very well.
He loves his wife because she's very charming.
But she, on the other hand, can't stand the sight of him
She doesn't care: "Just get lost!"
She spends his money, she doesn't love anything,
Worst of all, she has a boarder in the house too.
This makes the husband jealous, angry and dreary,
And who knows why she hates him?

I ask people what this means.
"Why do you have to ask? It's all right!
Because your boarder is young and handsome,
well, you understand the rest."

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

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