[Cz-L] Re: Ikh hob a kleynem yingele

My dear Iosif --- Thank you so much, not just for the Yiddish words,
but also for the link that explains its origins. As someone in the
list of posted comments says, "I was such a child". My father was in
the garment business, originally working as an organizer, then a
cutter for Local 10 of the ILGWU, in New York. He eventually became
manager of that local, and then a Vice President of the Union
literally until two weeks before he died at age 75. His work was his
life along with a penchant for spending evenings at the Cafe Royal in
the company of landsmen where he felt at home amidst the Yiddish
conversation and comradery along with all the writers, play writes,
and journalists. In all my growing-up years this song applied: he was
rarely able to be home before I went to sleep, and either he or I had
left the apartment before the other in the mornings when I became of
school age. I really only ever saw him on weekends. Knowing now what
the song means, I can understand why he sang it to me on the rare
occasions he was home in time to put me to sleep (probably on the
weekend), and also why he substituted "maydele", given that I was a
little girl, his only child. Again, thank you.

Now, can anyone translate at least the first two or three verses into English?

Yours, Jessica Falikman Attiyeh, San Diego, CA

At 09:06 PM 12/10/2008, i vaisman wrote:
>The words for this song were written by Morris Rosenfeld (most likely
>the "yingele/meydele" substitution was your parents' contribution):
>
>Ikh hob a kleynem yingele,
>A zunele gor fayn!
>Ven ikh derzey im dakht zikh mir,
>Di gantse velt iz mayn.
>
>Nor zeltn, zeltn zey ikh im,
>Mayn sheynem, ven er vakht,
>Ikh tref im imer shlofendik,
>Ikh zey im gor bay nakht.
>
>Di arbet traybt mikh fri aroys
>Un lozt mikh shpet tsurik;
>A fremd iz mir mayn eygn leyb!
>O, fremd mayn kind's a blik!
>
>Ikh kum tsuklemterheyt aheym,
>In finsternish gehilt, -
>Mayn blaykhe froy dertseylt mir bald,
>Vi fayn dos kind zikh shpilt,
>
>Vi zis es redt, vi klug es fregt:
>"O, mame, gute ma,
>Ven kumt un brengt a peni mir
>Mayn guter, guter pa?"
>
>Ikh her es tsu un ayl - es muz, -
>Yo, yo, es muz gesheyn!
>Di foterlibe flakert oyf:
>Es muz mayn kind mikh zeyn!....
>
>Ikh shtey bay zayn gelegerl
>Un zey, un her, un sha!
>A troym bavegt di lipelekh:
>"O, vu iz, vu iz pa?"
>
>Ikh kush di bloye eygelekh,
>Zey efn'n zikh - "o, kind!"
>Zey zeyen mikh, zey zeyen mikh,
>Un shlisn zikh geshvind.
>
>"Do shteyt dayn papa, tayerer,
>A penele dir, na!"
>A troym bavegt di lipelekh:
>"O, vu iz, vu iz pa?"
>
>Ikh blayb tseveytikt un tseklemt,
>Farbitert un ikh kler:
>"Ven du ervakhst a mol, mayn kind,
>Gefinstu mikh nit mer"....
>
>More about this song in http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol08/vol08.109
>
>Iosif Vaisman
>

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Received on 2008-12-11 06:15:37