Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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List of the still-lost songs: do you know any of them?
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I've been looking over some old files and realizing there are songs I never put on either of my blogs. Here's one I recorded in 2023. I love the zesty way Yiddish composers entered into American popular culture! And did you know that the eighteenth amendment made an exception for sacramental wine used by churches and synagogues. Rabbis' orders for wine increased by millions of gallons a year.

Daniel Okrent wrote: "A Jewish household was allowed a certain amount of wine per adult per year for which you had to have a certification from your rabbi. So, congregations grew in size from 1920 to 1921 by factor of 10 from 80 families to 900 families." See the lyrics and translation for this delightful song by Ruben Doctor (Rubin Doctor) below.

I'd also forgotten that it was in order to record this song that I bought myself a four-string mandolin!



Hert nor vos der kongres hot gepest di letste tsayt
A nayes vos amerika hot nokh nit gehat
Farbotn draye di beste zakhn - bronfn, vayn un bier
Oyb ir vilt a shnepsl makhn - muzt ir visn frier

Probishen, probishen, trinken tor men nit
Probishen, probishen, ay tel yu, nat a bit
Ver es vil a shnepsl koyfn, yener darf keyn yurop loyfn
Probishen, probishen, iz yetst in gantsn land.

Oyb ir filt amol nit git, dos hartz klemt a shrek
Keyn shnepsl krign kent ir nit, ir filt ir shtarbt avek
A dokter meg farshraybn aykh fun shnaps a meditsin
Gemisht mit biter zalts a sakh, ir trinkt un loyft derfin

Probishen, probishen, es plotst aykh shir nit di gal,
Probishen, probishen, yu tink yu loz yor sol
Dos makht aykh krank un opgeshvakht, ir loyft batog un oykh banakht
Probishen, probishen, iz yetst in gantsn land

Trinken fleg ikh on a shir, befor der nayer law
Yetst dreyt zikh oykh der kop ba mir, khotsh keyn bronfn iz nishto
Fun voszhe meynt ir ver ikh shiker
Az trinken trinkt ikh nit
Mayn vaybl hot a pisk mit liker, veyst ir vos zi tit

Probishen, probishen, zi git mir yeder sho
Probishen, probishen, zi kert nit far der law
Krenk kholeries on a shir, ikh ver shiker ikh krapir
Probishen, probishen, iz yetst in gantsn land

An eytse hob ikh far di shikurim - dos iz git in fayn
Vos flegn frier vi di khaseyrim - trinken shnaps un vayn
Onshtot trinken zoln zey - lekn esik drops
Khreyn un zoyer-zaltz mit tey - hot oykh a tam fun shnaps

Probishen, probishen, trinkt ba aykh in shtib
Probishen, probishen, dos kost aykh very cheap
Onshtot bronfn, bier un vayn, borsht mit fefer gist arayn
Probishen, probishen, iz yetst in gantsn land

Just listen to the law Congress passed recently, news America never had before. They’ve forbidden three of the best things: hard liquor, wine and beer. If you want to have a shnepsl, you need to know this first:

Prohibition! One is forbidden to tipple.
Prohibition! I tell you, not a bit. Whoever wants
to buy shnaps has to run to Europe.
Prohibition is now in the whole country.


If you don’t feel good, maybe it’s angina,
You can’t get any shnaps, you think you’ll up and die.
A doctor can prescribe shnaps as medicine,
but mixed with lots of bitter salts. Drink it, you’ll run away from it.

Prohibition! Your gall bladder's practically bursting.
Prohibition! You think you’re losing your soul. It makes you sick and weak, you run day and night. Prohibition is now in the whole country.


I used to drink constantly before the new law. Now my head is spinning, there isn’t even any brandy. How do you think I get drunk now, when I can’t drink? My wife has a snout full of liquor, know what she does?

Prohibition! She gives it to me every hour.
Prohibition! She doesn’t care about the law. Sickness, cholera all the time. I get drunk, I die. Prohibition is now in the whole country.

I have advice for the drunkards, it’s good and fine, for those who used to drink shnaps and wine like pigs. Instead of drinking, they should suck vinegar drops. Horseradish and sour salts with tea also has the flavor of shnaps.

Prohibition! Drink at home.
Prohibition! It will be very cheap.
Instead of booze, beer and wine,
pour borsht with pepper down your gullet.
Prohibition is now in the whole country.