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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UPDATE: Until recently I was very disappointed that nobody was picking up on these fascinating songs. But three years after I wrote this blog post, Daniel Kahn and Sveta Kundish did a bangup job on this one! Have a listen: Mentshn-fresser (1916 Yiddish Pandemic Ballad) Sveta Kundish & Daniel Kahn.

And now back to the original post:

Wow, it's been three months since I put up a song. There was a time I was putting one up almost every day. Truth is, since the election I have been so disheartened I hardly ever talk, let alone sing. There are times I think music is over for me. I just can't bear the world right now. So I sound rusty but it will have to do.

This song has been in the "to-do folder" for a long time. Mark Slobin discussed it in his book, Tenement Songs, thirty-odd years ago. I recorded three of the four verses today: the first about tuberculosis, the second about polio, and the last is about war. All these things are devourers of mankind. Fresn is greedy, insatiable eating - gobbling or hoovering when it comes to food.

Solomon Smulewitz published this song, spelled Menshen-fresser, in 1916. I've given the transliteration used in the sheet music on the video because I think it's important for Yiddish students to know what wide varieties of orthography we have to endure when searching for songs. There was a word here I did not know, laykhes or leykhes. I asked on Facebook and the only two people who answered me both suggested it is a typo for laybes, so that's what I went with. Enjoy the sprinkling of Germanic words used in Yiddish songs around the turn of the century.



Words and translation after the jump

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Labels: disaster, history, morality, politics, travails, war, World War I

The strange name of this cd comes from one of my favorite Yiddish theater songs ever, written by Nellie Casman: Mr Malekh haMoves ikh bin busy! (Mr Angel of Death, I'm busy) in which she, a young and rising star, gets so sick she DOESN'T GO TO WORK (ie she is sick unto death because nothing kept those troupers from the stage) and subsequently tries to convince the Angel of Death she simply has too much to do to die. It's the title track of this cd, Ikh bin busy.

Only $7 and comes with a 19-page pdf file of the complete Yiddish lyrics in transliteration and my translations.

I also put two songs on this cd that I wrote as entries to the 2015 International Yidisher Idol competition in Mexico City. I won first prize with Ikh ken shoyn nit mithaltn, I was Grand Champion that year!

Click on the picture to visit the cd and have a listen.


Contents:

1. Mr Malekh haMoves ikh bin busy (Mr Angel of Death, I'm Busy) 04:58
2. Tsores iz keyn dayge nit (Trouble's Nothing to Worry About) 02:43
3. S'vet zikh shoyn oyspresn (It'll Iron Itself Out) 03:20
4. Ikh bin arayngegangen un zikh oysgedreyt (I Went In And Turned Right Around and Left) 03:02
5. Gotenyu, gib a drey dos redele (God, Turn the Wheel of Fortune) 02:33
6. Dem milshteyns faygn (The Millstone's Figs) 03:21
7. Yeder eyner straykt atsind (Everyone's On Strike Now) 02:55
8. Kompani (Company) 02:06
9. Men vet dir keyn sakh nit mitgebn in keyver arayn (You Can't Take Anything With You Into the Grave) 03:48
10. Az du kenst nit un veyst nit nemt men zikh nit unter (If You Don't Know How, Don't Try It) 02:53
11. Aza mazl afn Keyser (The Czar Should Have Such Luck) 03:50
12. Dos pastukhl (The Shepherd) from Bar Kokhba 04:17
13. Ikh ken shoyn nit mithaltn (I Can't Keep Up) 03:43

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

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Labels: history, humor, immigration, marriage, mores, New York, nostalgia, politics, religion, World War I

As you know I chug along recording rare songs as my mental state allows - since the advent of our current US regime it's been substantially more difficult and for several months I was so depressed I couldn't talk, let alone sing. Still, the pile of songs built up and yesterday I compiled two cds. Here is the first, Opgenarte Velt (Deluded World). Only $7 and comes with 18-page liner notes pdf file with the transliterated Yiddish lyrics and English translation. Click on picture to visit and listen.


Contents (all these songs have appeared on the blog):

1. Shtek arayn (Put 'er there!) 03:22
2. Uptown, Downtown 01:08
3. Mener, mener! (Men, men!) 04:14
4. Di opgenarte velt (The Deluded World) 02:58
5. A mentsh zolstu nor zayn (A mentsh zol men zayn) (Be a decent person) 03:19
6. Eylu voeylu (A Drinking Song) 02:33
7. In hundert yor arum (100 years from now) 04:08
8. A mentsh ken dokh makhn a mol a toes (A person can sometimes make a mistake) 02:32
9. Vos kh'hob gevolt hob ikh oysgefirt (What I wanted, I got) 02:35
10. Alts far gelt (Everything For Money) 02:44
11. Di zibn boarders (The Seven Boarders) 04:42
12. Mentshn-freser (Devourer of People) 05:02


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

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Labels: anti-semitism, battle between the sexes, crime, history, humor, immigration, klezmer, love, male chauvinism, marriage, morality, mother, New York, nostalgia, politics, religion, World War I, zionism

I couldn't find much information about this song, which is on the Library of Congress website. It's from the 1904 show "The Lodge President" דער לאָדזשען פּרעזידענט by that shund mayster Professor Horowitz, about whom I've written before.

Arnold Perlmutter and Herman Wohl wrote the song, which as usual is full of Yinglish. Lorin Sklamberg solved the oddest mystery, Fan Pleve ot dem Soine Yssrul, by pointing me to Wikipedia:

Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve 1846-1904 was the director of Imperial Russia's police and later Minister of the Interior. ... After he did nothing to prevent a bloody wave of anti-Jewish violence in 1903, the known double agent Yevno Azef decided not to inform on the SR plans to kill Plehve. He survived one attack in 1903 and two in 1904 before the Socialist-Revolutionary Combat Group succeeded. On 28 July 1904, a bomb was thrown into Plehve's horse-drawn carriage by Yegor Sazonov, on his weekly audience with the Tsar at Izmailovsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, killing him at 58.

So, note that von Plehve died the very year this song mentioned him!

I used the original transliteration from the sheet music in the video. You can see if you agree about the guesses I made. Here it is, recorded this morning. Something strange happened to the keyboard track.



Lyrics and translation after the jump.

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Labels: anti-semitism, history, humor, immigration, labor union, morality, nostalgia, politics, union, war, workers, World War I

This Yiddish political cartoon appeared in the Warheit on August 15 1914, at the outbreak of World War I.  Click for a larger view.
The True Battlefield.
The wife and children at home when the husband is gone away to war.


Morris Rund wrote this lyric to the melody of a song I posted a couple weeks ago for Mother's Day, A muters herts.

Here's today's recording:


Transliteration and translation after the jump:

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Labels: anti-semitism, disaster, history, politics, religion, war, World War I

I'm not sure I even really would call this an album, and I'm even more hesitant to call it a cd, because there will never be "physical product" and I didn't go into a studio to mix or master the tracks. They are just as you heard them first on this blog, warts and all... some are very warty because I had bronchitis for six months...

... my daughter and her husband don't even have anything in their house to play cds on any more (my son either). They only listen to mp3s. I guess that's the future...

Although this album has only a front cover, it comes with a 31 page pdf file of all the texts and translations. Click on the picture to visit it at our record label, Skylark Productions:



Contents:

- Dem bekers laydn (The Baker's Suffering)
- Di Terkishe Bulgarishe milkhome (The Turkish Bulgarian War)
- Di yesoymim (The Orphans)
- Di yidishe hofenung (The Jewish Hope)
- Dos mezuzele (The Little Mezuzah)
- Dos shop meydl (The shopgirl)
- Got zet ales un er shvaygt (God sees all and is silent)
- Ikh hob nisht keyn tsayt! (I don't have time)
- Ikh un mayn sheyne mishpokhe (Me and My Beautiful Family)
- Khaye Sores brif (Khaye Sore's letter)
- Kol Yisroel Khaveyrim (All Jews are Friends)
- Lebn zol Kolumbus! (Long live Columbus!)
- Mayn kales apetit (My fiancee's appetite)
- Mayn vayb's vunder (My wife's wonder)
- Vert a boarder! (Become a boarder!)
- Vos hot men tsu mir? (What do people have against me?)
- Vu nemt men a fraynd (Where does one find a friend?)

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

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Labels: anti-semitism, battle between the sexes, holidays, humor, New York, World War I

If you take the last two posts and combine them, you get this song. Rund used the tune of the very famous (at the time) A grus fun der heym, a song about the ravages of war, and set his own words to it, words which are very like the words to his Di Terkishe Bulgarishe Milkhome. It is so similar to the last one (though not as good) that I've decided to skip it... but if it takes your fancy, let me know and I'll link to your rendition. Or email me and I'll record it.

Here is the song sheet (click for a larger view):

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

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Labels: war, World War I

I found (by reading the comic strip Gimpel Beynish in Di Warheit) that when World War I broke out the Jews of New York were by and large on the German/Austrian team, because their hatred for Nicholas II outweighed all other considerations. But obviously by the time the war was over they had switched sides and were pleased to see Wilhelm defeated.

Max Zavodnik wrote these lyrics, setting them to the tune of Ven di boyes veln kumen tsurik, which pianist Aviva Enoch and I recorded a while back for this same project. I just used her piano track again for this song. Here's my recording from this morning:


Here's the cover of the songsheet, click for a larger view. The original singers were Yetta Zwerling and Sam Klinetsky. Yetta was born near Lvov; her father was a klezmer musician. She followed her older sisters into the Yiddish theater world. The family came to New York when Yetta was in high school and not long after she was appearing in Yiddish vaudeville with Sam Klinetsky at the Grand Theater.

I couldn't find out anything about Sam and there's no picture to be found on the internets! Sorry, Sam.

Here's a transcription and translation:

>>>>>READ MORE >>>>>

Labels: history, war, World War I

This is the third and last of the penny songs set to this tune. The first two were A froy in mayn shikzal iz shuldik and Dos lid fun nokh dem fayer. Once again, the sweet, cheerful tune is at odds with the subject matter.

Franz Joseph I died November 21, 1916, so this song probably came out not long after that. I read a lot in Melech Ravitch about how the Austrian Jews loved Franz Josef and his wife. Morris Rund, who wrote this lyric, was from Austria.

Click the Yiddish broadside above for a larger view - you can also enjoy the fortune teller's ad. And more unusually, Morris (a baker and a member of Local 100 the Kosher Bakers Union) advertises his side business with his buddy Bezante:


Back to the song at hand. Here's my recording, re-using for the third time the piano accompaniment Aviva Enoch made for me a while back:


The transliteration and translation are below:

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Labels: history, nostalgia, war, World War I

While I've been thinking about the mysterious Max Zavodnik, who was unexpectedly brought to life in the piece by Maris Cohen of New Haven, I thought I'd present this song, for which he wrote the lyrics.

The trouble is, I don't like the song much. The tune, which is from A brivele fun Rusland (find it on the LOC website), is pretty dull, and I've already posted several songs along these same lines.

So I had the bright idea called "Let's not and say we did." I'll give you the sheet music as a free pdf download and you can sing this one yourself.

The advertisers here are:

On the left: Dov Dzivatov, manufacturer and importer of Russian and Turkish tobacco, and also the best cigarettes and cigars, at 89 Monroe Street, near Pike Street, New York. [now at the corner of the Coleman Square Playground.]

On the right (with picture): M. Simon, photographer. Successor to M. Smith. He makes the best pictures on the East Side. 331 Grand Street, New York. [Chinese language storefronts now occupy that space.]

Below: In Rutger's Street Bath is the most kosher mikvah in the whole region. Moyshe Aaron Shiff, Name(?) and Manater, 32 Rutgers Street, near Madison Street, New York. [It appears Emily's Laundromat currently occupies that space.]



Here's A brivele fun Rusland's lovely cover. And below, the three verses of Dos troyer lid as printed in the broadside which was sold on the streets of New York.

You can download the sheet music I made for the first verse by right-clicking this link: Dos troyer lid fun der groyse milkhome free Yiddish sheet music. If you want a transliteration or translation email me and I'll write it out.

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

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Labels: disaster, war, World War I

From our vantage point, this song was tragically and mistakenly optimistic, but there have to be some moments of hope in anyone's lifetime...

Click for a larger view of this anti-Nikolai political cartoon from the Varhayt / Warheit December 1914, after the start of World War I. Artist was Samuel Zagat and you can see oodles of his work on my blog devoted to his comic-book hero Gimpel Beynish.


The cover page of Rusland bafrayt! reads: "Sing to the melody of Oyf yener zayt from the show טהרת המשפּחה (Family Purity)" Look at the great cover, and at a very young Jennie Goldstein with Sigmund Mogulesco.

And here's my living room recording of the song from yesterday. I am sure the original song "Af yener zayt" was sung at one tenth this speed:


Below, my translation and transliteration. Interestingly (to me) the sheet actually said "Nikolay DI despotisher hund." .

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Labels: anti-semitism, history, politics, war, World War I

Later in life Gustav Goldstein (also Gustave Goldstein) was known for his comedy patter, comic dialogues and silly songs often with Clara Gold and Anna Hoffman.

But this song, "War," was written at a very somber time, during the Great War (or World War I as it unhappily became). Its anti-war message is still potent.

The performer is Cantor Abraham Rosenstein, he's appeared on this blog before (singing lighthearted material). Click to hear him:


On the video, I included the text both as given in the American Penny Songs collection and as it was published in the sheet music in 1917. See how much "folk processing" went on? Perhaps it was intentional - replacing "swords" with "bayonets", or changing couplets to rhyme in a different dialect - or perhaps whoever transcribed the song for the songsheet was working from memory and got it wrong. I'm sure it happened often.

The song appears three times in the American Yiddish Penny Songs collection, once with a big picture of Czar Nicholas II on it, once under the name "Di milkhome korbones" - it is not the song William Schwartz recorded under the title Die Milchume Korbunos.

There is a third verse not included on the recording. Here's the transcription and my translation from the Yiddish:
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Labels: disaster, history, travails, war, World War I

Ken Bloom and Jim Baird of Mappamundi came over to rehearse for a klezmer gig yesterday and while they were here I got them to play a couple of my Penny Songs. This was their first take, perfect! Heh.



As you'll see from the song sheet at the bottom of this post (which includes a nice big picture of Morris and also a fortune-teller's advertisement), Morris Rund wrote the song about what would happen when the Great War was over and his hope that Zion would be returned to the Jews. He set it to "It's a Long Long Way to Tipperary" so we reconstituted it. Click to hear yesterday's rendition:

Here is a transliteration in standard Yiddish and my translation

>>>>>READ MORE >>>>>

Labels: immigration, travails, war, World War I, zion

Morris Rund was given to being didactic but this song goes too far! It's a combined history lecture and propaganda piece set to the Shimon Frug tune from Di Yidishe Troyke, a song which was Morris Rund's first big hit -- which I guess is why he reused it so often.

Knowing that when the US finally entered World War I it was on the side of England and France, we might be surprised to find New York Jews throwing their emotional support so strongly to the Ottoman–German alliance. Jews hated Czar Nicholas so much, everything else was secondary. From their point of view, England and France had, as the third verse sneers, gone to bed with the pig Nikolai - and Amalek the anti-semite was a member of the wedding party.


Here's the text and translation:

A troyke iz gevorn fil yor nokh anand
Dray partners yeder ken dos visn
Italyen un Estraykh un oykh Daytshland
Dray fraynd geteylt zikh mit dem bisn
Plutsling an umglik di troyke iz tseshtert
Di troyke iz geblutikt, tseshrokn.
Italien hot Estraykh milkhome derklert
Di troyke iz gevorn tsebrokhn
Nor bald getrofn hot dortn gor a glik
Ir veyst dos ir kent dos aykh merkn
Di troyke iz gevorn gor fresh un nay tsurik
Fun Daytshland Estraykh un Terkkn!

Di troyke gekrign hot sonim bald genug
England, Frankraykh, Nikolayke
Zey firn yetst ale a blutige krig
Zey viln nor tsebrekhn di troyke
Dokh gibt nor a kuk vi di troyke iz klor
Zi is boke (skilled) in hilkhes (matters of) milkhome
Zi shlogt ire sonim shoyn bald dray yor
Zi nemt fun zey ale nekome
Di soyne Yisrol, Despot Nikolay,
Tsu shvakh iz yetst dayn nagayke (whip)
Di yidn in Poyln zey zingen shoyn fray
Gedenken vestu lang di troyke!

England un Frankraykh ir shtoltse lender tsvey
Vu iz ayer nomen dem guten?
Meshadekh (engaged to) geven mit a khazer Nikolay
Un Emelekh iz oykh a mekhutn
A blutike hokhtsayt shpilt ir ale yetst (marriage)
Ir tantst ir meynt ir zent shoyn ziger
Ir vet di troyke nit brekhn ven ir vert tsezetst (smashed)
Vayl zi iz fun aykh fil kliger
Zi shlogt aykh, bagrobt aykh, zi lakht aykh ale oys
Zi shpayt af a kozak a nagayke
Bagrobt aykh fir shande ir England, Frantsoyz,
Respekt far der yetstike troyke!

A troyka was made years ago,
Three partners, everybody knows this
Italy, Austria, and also Germany
Three friends shared bites
Suddenly a calamity, the troyka is destroyed,
The troyka is bloodied, frightened.
Italy declared war on Austria,
The troyka was broken.
But soon a good thing happened,
You know, you can observe it,
The troyka has become completely fresh and new again,
Made up of Germany, Austria, and Turkey!

The troyka soon had enough enemies:
England, France, Nicholas,
Now they're all carrying out a bloody fight,
They want to break the troyka.
But have a look at how the troyka is lucid,
It's skilled in matters of war.
It's been fighting its enemies for three years now,
It's getting vengeance on all of them.
That enemy of Israel, the despot Nicholas,
His whip is now too weak.
The Jews in Poland are singing now, free,
You'll long remember the troyka!

England and France, you two proud lands,
Where is your good name?
You've gotten engaged to the pig Nicholas,
And Emelekh (famous anti-semite) is also an in-law.
You're all playing out a bloody marriage...
You dance, you think you've already won.
You won't break the troyka, you'll be smashed
Because the troyka is much smarter than you.
It beats you, buries you, it laughs at all of you.
It spits on that Cossack's whip.
England, France, you're buried for shame.
Respect today's troyka.

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

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Labels: history, New York, politics, war, World War I