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

I haven't been lucky enough to find a recording of Moyshe Oysher and his wife Florence Weiss singing this adorable song, but there is a charming (if rather slipshod) version available by Benzion Witler and Shifra Lerer (he credited Jacobs/Olshanetsky). Their recording was done when musicians cut their records live onto aluminum disks. If they screwed up and stopped, the disk was ruined, and that was very expensive, so they often issued imperfect cuts. But full of life!

Here's our only video of this song, from the first time we sang it in public. I wish we'd known it better!


It sounds better on the recording, have a listen for free! Cabaret Warsaw cd, you can listen (or even buy it for less than a buck: Mappamundi plays Vokh tyokh tyokh on the Cabaret Warsaw cd

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Somebody told me the Marx brothers used "vokh tyokh tyokh" as a catch phrase. The Barry Sisters recorded this song as Vyoch Tyoch Tyoch. I've been told Benny Goodman (!) also recorded it, as Voch. Tioch. Tioch., giving composer credit to Seymour Rechtzeit.

The song is addictive! It would be great for a klezmer band. I made sheet music for our version, if you want it contact me: jane@mappamundi.com

Labels: fun, humor & satire, klezmer, love, nostalgia