Yiddish Curiosities: a library of wonderful but forgotten Yiddish songs from the late 1920s and after (includes Polish Jewish Cabaret). Have a listen!

I've decided I'm going to put even the songs for which I haven't found melodies in my book. Maybe somebody will find them someday.

Like this one! Translation is below the Yiddish text (it still needs some work - for instance, who was Zogar in the 1920s?)

Ikh zing aykh yetst a lidl, un ikh zog aykh az dos yidl
iz a sod, a retenish bay der gantser velt
s'iz im nisht tsu farshteyn, m'kon im nisht dergeyn,
khotsh er lebt zikh ofn fray, mit keyn zakh farshtelt

fun groys biz kleyn on untersheyd
yogt men un men plogt dem yid
Gzeyres, bilbulim un zilzulim
oy dos hot er oyf yeder trit
lebt der yid dos altz ariber, tsu di tsore iz er a gvir
aza koyekh fun vanen kumt tsum yid? (oy, oy, etc.)

Un dos iz, vayl a yid iz nisht keyn goy! Ir megt mir gleybn, az es iz azoy
Er iz klug un farshteyt vos far Got un vos far layt

Antisemitn, rakim, un vifil Amoleykim
dos shvakhinke yisroelikl hot altz ibergelebt
un zogar a tsundert in tsvantsigstn yor-hundert
dos yidl tsu farnikhtn nor tsu dem a yeder shtrebt

Klert men oys gor naye zakhn, Zuntog muztu yontev makhn
Zogt der yid: kh'hob a Got, kh'fayf oyf dir un helf dir lakhn
un dos vaybl koyft bald ayn oyf zuntog oykh in moyl arayn
ober shabos? heytst matshik vayter ayn ( oy, oy, un dos iz... )

Der yid bald fun geboyrn biz er vert farloyrn
Keyn menukhe hot er nisht afile a minut
Dos ershte iz mitsve-mileh un ven er shtarbt, kholile,
Ken rege fray, nor men tsaft fun im zayn gelt un blut
Zet oyf khasenes un oyf beler fun ale zaytn mit di teler
Khotsh du zolst bay dir in shtub nisht gedabrt nor es un gib
Ober Eyshev bay dem fres tsedake gebn dos farges
Tsedake geben dos kon nor der yid (oy, oy, un dos iz...)

Mit mir in hoyz ineynem voynen nor tsvey shkheynim
Eyner iz a krist un der tsveyter a yid
Der krist iz hoykh un breyt, gezunt un fet geboyt
Dos yudl kleyn un dar shvakh, es hot keyn tropn blut
Halt der yid nor in eyn kindlen un dos vayb vasht di vindlen
Eysev ober hot keyn kind er horevet zikh a groysn hint
fregt er mikh mit geveyn: farvos hob ikh keyn kinder neyn!
zog ikh im un gib im tsu farshteyn: (oy, oy, un dos iz...)

I'll sing a little song for you now and I tell you: the Jew
is a secret, a riddle to the whole world
He can't be understood, he can't be figured out
Even though he lives freely with nothing hidden

Big or small, no difference,
People drive and plague the Jew
Evil laws, slanders and humiliations
That's what he gets at every step
The Jew lives through all this
He's a rich man when it comes to troubles
Where does a Jew get such strength?

It's because a Jew is not a goy!
You can believe me, that's how it is.
He's clever and understands
What pertains to God and what pertains to people
Antisemites, contantly, and how many Amaleks (famous anti-Semite)
The weak little Jew has survived it all
And Zogar[?] in the 1920s
Everybody is trying to kill off the Jew

There's a new command:
You have to make Sabbath on sunday
The Jew says, "I have a God
I whistle at you and help you laugh"
And the wife goes shopping
On Sunday, too, one wants something in the mouth
But Shabbos? []??

From birth on, until he's lost
The Jew has no tranquility, not for a moment
The first is circumcision, and when he dies, God forbid,
Not one moment free, people suck his money and blood
You see it at weddings and balls
People come at him with the collection plate from all sides
Even though you pay in your home, don't gossip, just eat and give
But Esau, gorging at his meal, charity, forget that
Only the Jew gives charity

In my house I have two neighbors
One is a Christian and the second a Jew
The Christian is tall and broad, built healthy and fat
The Jew is small and weak, he doesn't have a bit of blood
He's constantly having children and his wife washes diapers
Esau however doesn't have a child. He slaves like a big dog
He asks, lamenting: Why don't I have children?
I tell him, get him to understand:

Because a Jew is not a Christian

Labels: humor & satire, modernity, persecution