Click Here to Listen to: Chava Alberstein -Two Yiddish songs on YouTube. (I Stand Beneath a Carob Tree and The Golden Peacock)
Lyrics to Ikh shtey unter a bokserboym (I Stand Beneath a Carob Tree):
Ikh shtey unter a bokserboym
A bokserboym
Tsu im derklibn kh’hob zikh koym
Ikh hob zikh koym
Ikh zits unter a faygnboym
A faygnboym
Arum iz grin arum iz groym
S’iz grin un groym
Ikh lig unter a mandlboym
A mandlboym
Er iz geven bay mir in troym
Bay mir in troym
A bokserboym
A fagnboym
A mandlboym
In oyg a trer halt eyn zikh koym
Halt eyn zikh koym
(English translation:
I stand beneath a carob tree
A carob tree
I got there, but not easily,
Not easily.
I sit beneath a fig tree
A fig tree
And all around is green and free
Is green and free
I lie beneath an almond tree
An almond tree
It appeared in a dream to me
A dream to me.
A carob tree
A fig tree
An almond tree
I stop my tears, not easily,
Not easily. )
Lyrics to the Die goldene Pave (The Golden Peacock)
Die goldene Pave
iz di goldene pave gefloygn, gefloygn.
un di nakht hot geefnet di goldene oygn,
likhtiker mayner, shlof ayn.
di nakht hot geefnet di goldene oygn,
bin ikh fidl gevorn un du der boygn,
umruiker mayner, shlof ayn.
bin ikh fidl gevorn un du der boygn,
un doz glik iber undz hot farlibt zikh geboygn,
tsertlekher mayner, shlof ayn.
un dos glik iber undz hot farlibt zikh geboygn,
gelozt undz aleyn un farfloygn, farfloygn,
troyeriker mayner, shlof ayn.
Last edited by Sciera on Mon, 23/03/2015 – 18:08
English translation
The Golden Peacock
The golden peacock has flown off, flown off.
And the night has opened its golden eyes,
Oh, my bright one, go to sleep.
The night has opened its golden eyes,
I was the fiddle and you were the bow,
Oh, my tense one, go to sleep.
I was the fiddle and you were the bow,
And fortune loved us and bowed down over us,
Oh, my soft one, go to sleep.
And fortune loved us and bowed down over us,
Left us alone and flew off, flew off.
Oh, my sad one, go to sleep.
Click Here to Listen to: In Ale Gasn/Hey Hey Daloy Politsey (Everywhere You Look/Hey Hey Down with the Police)
The Lyrics to In Ale Gasn/Hey Hey Daloy Politsey:
Everywhere that you go
the streets are full of strikes
boys and girls, everyone
are talking higher wages
boys and girls, everyone
are talking higher wages
Enough of breaking backs
and still having to borrow
call a strike comrades
let’s free ourselves
call a strike comrades
let’s free ourselves
Brothers and sisters, all gather round
together we are strong enough to bring the tsar down
Hey hey down with the police
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Hey Hey Daloy Politsey
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Sisters and brothers we can do this together
Bury Nikolai along with his mother
Hey hey down with the police
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Hey Hey Daloy Politsey
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Only yesterday, he pushed a garbage cart
and now he’s become a capitalist
Hey hey down with the police
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Hey Hey Daloy Politsey
Down with the autocracy in Russia
Click Here to Listen to: Mayn Shvester Khaye (My Sister Khaye): The Klezmatics & Chava Alberstein on YouTube.
Mayn shvester Khaye mil di grine oygn,
Mayn shvester Khaye mil di shvartse tsep —
Di shvester Khaye, vos hot mikh dertsoygn
Oyf smotshe-gas, in hoyz mil krume trep.
Di mame iz avek fun shtub baginen,
Ven oyfn himl hot ersht koym gehelt.
Zi iz avek in krom arayn fardinen
Dos bidne-drobne groshedike gelt.
Un Khaye iz geblibn mil di brider,
Un zi hot zey gekormet un gehit,
Un zi flegt zingen zey di sheyne lider,
Far nakhl, ven kleyne kinder vern mid.
Mayn shvester Khaye mil di grine oygn,
Mayn shvester Khaye mil di lange hor —
Di shvester Khaye, vos hot mikh dertsoygn,
Iz nokh nish! al! geven keyn tsendling yor.
Zi hot geroymt, gekokht, derlangt dos esn,
Zi hot getsvogn undz di kleyne kep,
Nor shpiln zikh mit undz hot zi fargesn —
Di shvester Khaye mit di shvartse tsep.
Mayn shvester Khaye mit di oygn grine,
A daytsh hot in treblinke zi farbrent.
Un ikh bin in der yidishe medine ,
Der same lelster, vos hos zi gekent.
Far ir shrayb ikh oyf yidish mayne lider
In teg di shreklekhe fun undzer tsayt.
Bay got aleyn iz zi a bas-yekhide —
In himl zitst zi bay zayn rekhter zayt.
(English)
My sister Khaye, her eyes were green,
My sister Khaye, her braids were black
Sister Khaye, it was she who raised me
In the house on Smotshe Street with tumble-down steps.
Mother left the house at dawn
When the sky had hardly lightened.
She went off to the shop, to earn
A wretched penny’s worth of change.
And Khaye stayed with the boys,
She fed them and watched over them.
And at evening, when little kids get tired,
She’d sing them pretty songs.
My sister Khaye, her eyes were green,
My sister Khaye, her hair was long
Sister Khaye, it was she who raised me,
She wasn’t even ten years old.
She cleaned and cooked and served the food,
She washed our little heads,
AII she torgot was to play with us
Sister Khaye, her braids were black.
My sister Khaye with her eyes of green
Was burnt by a German in Treblinka.
And I am in the Jewish state,
The very last one who knew her.
It’s for her that I write my poems in Yiddish
In these terrible days of our times.
To God Himself she’s an only daughter,
She sits in heaven at His right hand.