ידיש

A deeply moving yet incredibly sweet song I recently fell in love with. Chava Alberstein arranged the verses polish poet Binem Heller wrote in yiddish, to remember his little sister Khaye. Martin custom HD-28VS (adirondack/madagascar) and some harmonica.


Mayn shvester Khaye 

Mayn shvester Khaye mit di grine oygn,
mayn shevster Khaye mit di shvartse tsep,
di shevester Khaye vos hot mikh dertsoygn,
oyf smotshe-gas in hoyz mit krume trep.

Di mame iz avek fun shtub baginen,
venoyfn himl hot ersht koym gehelt.
Zi iz avek in krom arayn fardinen,
dos bidne-drobne groshedike gelt.

Un Khaye iz geblibn mit di brider,
un zi hot zey gekormet un gehit,
un zi flegt zingen zey di sheyne lider,
far nakht ven klyne kinder vern mid.

Mayn shevester Khaye mit di grine oygn,
mayne shevster Khaye mit di longe hor,
dis shevster Khaye vos hot mikh dertsoygn,
iz nokh nisht alt geven keyn tsending yor.

Zi hot geroymt, gekokht, derlangt dos esn,
zihot getsvogn undz di kleyne kep,
nor shpiln zikh mit undz hot zi fargesn,
di shevster 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 letster, vos hot 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.

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.

Ahhh-Ahh

My sister Khaye 

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 there was hardly light in the sky.
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 night, 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
All she forgot 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 world,
The very last one who ever 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.

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.

Mayn shvester Khaye

A rare Child ballad with an happy ending. Originated in Scotland, it is known under different names (Tom the Barber, Thomas of Winesberry, and others) and dates back probably to the second half of the eighteen century. My simple rendition uses a Huss & Dalton custom 00-SP and some synthetic strings in the background.

Willie of Wisbury

The king had been a prisoner
And a prisoner long in Spain
And Willie of the Winsbury
Has lain long with his daughter at home
 
"What ails you, what ails you, my daughter Janet
Why you look so pale and wan
Have you had any sore sickness
Or yet been sleeping with a man?"
 
"I have not had any sore sickness
Nor yet been sleeping with a man
It is for you, my father dear,
For biding so long in Spain"
 
"Cast off, cast off your berry-brown gown
Stand naked on the stone
That I may know you by your shape
If you be a maiden or none"
 
So she cast off her berry-brown gown
Stood naked on the stone
Her apron was low, her haunches round
Her face was pale and wan
 
"Was it with a lord or a duke or a knight
Or a man of birth and fame
Or was it with one of my serving men
That's lately come out of Spain?"
 
"No it wasn't with a lord or a duke or a knight
Nor a man of birth and fame
But it was with Willie of Winsbury
I could bide no longer alone"
 
The king has called on his merry men all
By thirty and by three
Saying "Fetch me this Willie of Winsbury
For hanged he shall be"
 
But when he came the king before
He was clad all in the red silk
His hair was like the strands of gold
His skin was as white as the milk
 
"And it is no wonder," said the king
"That my daughter's love you did win
For if I was a woman, as I am a man
My bedfellow you would have been"
 
"Now will you marry my daughter Janet
By the truth of your right hand?
Oh will you marry my daughter Janet
I'll make you lord of my land"
 
"Well yes, I'll marry your daughter Janet
By the truth of my right hand
Well yes I'll marry your daughter Janet
But I'll not be the lord of your land"
 
He's mounted her on a milk-white steed
And himself on a dapple grey
He has made her the lady of as much as land
As she shall ride in a long summer's day.

Willie o' Winsbury (scottish trad. - Child #100)

Baidin Fheilimi (Irish trad.)

Track #12 Tshiribim Tshiribom from Gevolt's new album "AlefBase"
2011

Tshiribim Tshiribom

Now westlin winds 

Now westlin winds and slaughtering guns
Bring autumn's pleasant weather
The moorcock springs on whirring wings
Amang the blooming heather
Now waving grain, wild o'er the plain
Delights the weary farmer
And the moon shines bright as I rove at night
To muse upon my charmer

The partridge loves the fruitful fells
The plover loves the mountain
The woodcock haunts the lonely dells
The soaring hern the fountain
Through lofty groves the cushat roves
The path of man to shun it
The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush
The spreading thorn the linnet

Thus every kind their pleasure find
The savage and the tender
Some social join and leagues combine
Some solitary wander
Avaunt! Away! the cruel sway,
Tyrannic man's dominion
The sportsman's joy, the murdering cry
The fluttering, gory pinion

But Peggy dear the evening's clear
Swift flies the skimming swallow
The sky is blue, the fields in view 
All fading green and yellow
Come let us stray our gladsome way
And view the charms of nature
The rustling corn, the fruited thorn
And every happy creature

We'll gently walk and sweetly talk
Till the silent moon shines clearly
I'll grasp thy waist and, fondly pressed,
Swear how I love thee dearly
Not vernal showers to budding flowers
Not autumn to the farmer
So dear can be as thou to me
My fair, my lovely charmer


Now Westlin Winds (Robert Burns - Scottish trad.)

Society (Eddie Vedder Cover)

Dirty Old Town (Cover)

Diamonds and Rust (Joan Baez Cover)

Annabelle song

An hip hop klezmer flavoured track with Socalled on the vocals and Estelle Goldfarb on the violin.

Mayn shvester Khaye

LazyShark

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