Words by L. Magister, pen name of Leibush Lehrer (1887-1965); music by Lazar Weiner (1897-1982). Published in sheet music by Transcontinental Music Corp., N.Y., 1940. This popular song is included in the repertoires of many concert and folk singers.
Once there was a poor man
who would only quarrel with God.
Wonders upon wonders happened to him
when he sang a tune like this:
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam.
Wine flowed from the melody
he swallowed gulp after gulp.
Wonders upon wonders happened to him
when he sang, sang just like this:
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam.
The Jew sang and bliss poured forth
until he jumped for joy
Wonders upon wonders happened to him
when he sang, sang just like this:
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam!
Iz a kabtsn a mol gevezn,
Flegt er nor mit got zikh krign.
Vunder iber vunder hot mit im getrofn,
Ven er hot gezungen ot aza min nign:
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam.
Hot fun nign zikh vayn gegosn, Hot er zup nokh geshlungen,
Vunder iber vunder hot mit im getrofn,
Ven er got gezungen, ot azoy gezungen;
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam.
Zingt der yid un s’gist zikh mesikes,
Iz er azh fun freyd geshprungen,
Vunder iber vunder hot mit im getrofn,
Ven er hot gezungen, ot azoy gezungen:
Tshiri-bim, bam, bam.
איז אַ קבצן אַ מאָל געװעזן,
פֿלעגט ער נאָר מיט גאָט זיך קריגן.
װוּנדער איבער װוּנדער האָט מיט אים געטראָפֿן,
װען ער האָט געזונגען אָט אַזאַ מין ניגון:
טשירי־בים, באַם, באַם!. . .
האָט פֿון ניגון זיך װײַן געגאָסן,
האָט ער זופּ נאָך זופּ געשלונגען,
װוּנדער איבער װוּנדער האָט מיט אים געטראָפֿן,
װען ער האָט געזונגען אָט אַזױ געזונגען:
טשירי־בים, באַם, באַם!. . .
זינגט דער ייִד און ס’גיסט זיך מתיקות,
איז ער אַזש פֿון פֿרײד געשפּרונגען,
װוּנדער איבער װוּנדער האָט מיט אים געטראָפֿן,
װען ער האָט געזונגען אָט אַזױ געזונגען:
טשירי־בים, באַם, באַם!. . .
Song Title: A Nign
First published in 1988 as Pearls of Yiddish Song: Favorite Folk, Art and Theatre Songs, this anthology contains 115 songs. Some material had never been published, while others, included in rare song collections or sheet music, were largely inaccessible. The songs presented reflect Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the United States and depict childhood, love, family celebrations, poverty, work and struggle. There are also songs from the Hasidic and Maskilic movements, songs of Zion and of America, as well as songs from the Yiddish theater.
The title of this anthology derives from the weekly two-page feature column “Pearls of Yiddish Poetry,” which the compilers Yosl and Chana Mlotek initiated in 1970 in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forvertz (the Yiddish Daily Forward). Hundreds of readers from around the world — including authors, composers, singers, actors — became co-participants in this collective folk project and recalled melodies, lines, fragments, stanzas and their variants of songs, poems, and plays which they had heard in their youth. At first, readers sent in only written material. Later, they also taped songs on cassettes, many of whose melodies had, until then, never been recorded. They also identified and supplied missing information regarding lyricists, poets, and composers and described the circumstances surrounding the songs’ origins, their dissemination, diffusion and impact.
