Continuing my Jewish music series, this has nothing to do with Chanukah per se, but my earliest related memories have to do with Yiddish theatre songs. To give you an idea, here's a YouTube video of my brother playing Abe Schwartz's "Di Grine Kusine" (my preferred transliteration, not his) on the piano.
The song is lively and sounds cheerful enough (given the minor key) but it's actually a pretty sad story. The greenhorn cousin starts out young and beautiful and joyful. But as the years pass, she is wrecked by working in the sweatshop and, instead of her eyes being "blue as skies in spring," her eyes just say "to hell with Columbus's land."
I've always liked the song, long before I knew what it meant, but it's only my 3rd favorite Yiddish theatre song. My second favorite may not technically be a theatre song, as I believe it was originally written as a poem by Yitzchak Manger. It's called "Oyfn Veg Shteyt a Boym," which means "by the wayside, there's a tree." I like it because of a specific performance. Avi Hoffman as part of his "Too Jewish" show. He associates it with a Holocaust story and his performance of it is incredibly moving.
My favorite also has little to do with the music and nothing to do with the lyrics, which I can never remember more than one line of (and which are incredibly depressing). It's called "Papirossen," which just means "Cigarettes." The part I can remember the lyrics of is just a boy's plea for someone to buy cigarettes for him. The rest of the lyrics, though, are sort of the Jewish equivalent of Hans Christian Anderson's "Little Match Girl." They have to do with how cold and hungry the boy is and how his sister died in his arms on a street bench.
So why do I like the song so much? Well, Elliot wasn't the only child in our house who took piano lessons. I was never as good at playing as he was. By having less to show off, I was less of a show off and, hence, I was my grandfather's designated accompanist. I had a book of easy to play Yiddish songs and I'd play some of them and Grandpa would sing. "Papirossen" was one of his favorites to sing. Every time I hear that song, it brings back that memory. It's as good a reason as any to like a song.
Copyright 2007 Miriam H. Nadel