Words by Joseph Heftman (1888 – 1955). Published in the magazine Ilustrirte Velt (November, 1913) with a letter from the poet: “I wrote the song 16-17 years ago, when I was in Brest Litovsk as a young apprentice. One of my good friends, Gershon Eksman, adapted a melody and the song became so popular among the Jewish masses that, a short time later, it became almost a folksong sung everywhere, wherever there was a Jewish community in Europe. In America, I am told, it was printed several times in almanacs and calendars — naturally without the author’s name. I, therefore, deem it important, once and for all, to print my song with my name, although when I wrote it, I did not feel it printworthy.”
The author’s note, notwithstanding, the song continued to be sung as an anonymous folksong and went through several transformations. Ruth Rubin cites one folkorized version in her Voices of a People, 1963. It evolved into a song of prisoners that was published in 1921 by S. Lehman: “Es dremlt in turme, di lodn farmakht/ Es dreyt zikh arum a soldat oyf der vakh” (in prison everyone is dozing, the shutters are closed; a soldier walks on his watch). Humorous parodies were also popular in pre-war Warsaw: “Es drimlt dos shtetl, di lodn farmakht/ A kats hot gegenetst in mitn der nakht” (The town dozes, shutters are closed; a cat yawned in the middle of the night).
Later, the song was incorporated into two ghetto songs published by M. Prager and R. Pups: “Es drimlt dos geto. di toyern farmakht:/ Aropgelozt hot zikh in troyer di fintstere nakht” (The ghetto dozes, the gates are closed; dark night has descended in sadness); and “Shtil in dem geto, di drotn farmakht,/ Punkt vi oyf a beys-oylem shpet in der nakht” (It’s quiet in the ghetto, the wire gates are closed, just like a cemetery).
When the town dozes, its shutters closed,
come to me, my beloved, in the dark of night.
I have a little house alone behind the mountain
it is so lovely and tidy.
It is peaceful in my house, with only crickets chirping,
and a quiet stream flows nearby the little house.
Around it is full of trees and flowers, around the house.
Come to me in the nighttime, my beloved, oh, come!
Come to me, and bring your fiddle with you,
and play a lonely song on it,
the kind of song that wails, full of pain and sadness,
the kind that pierces me and tears my heart.
Play a song about someone who grieves and suffers,
a stranger to everyone and far from his parents.
Play a song a song about someone who is without bread
who is so lonely, and always in need.
And I am that one — oh, play that song
and keep playing and playing it, and do not grow weary.
When the town dozes, its shutters closed,
come to me, my beloved, in the dark of night.
Ven es dremlt dos shtetl, di lodns
farmakht,
Kum tsu mir, mayn gelibter, in fintsterer
nakht,
Hintern barg a kleyn shtibele hob ikh
mir aleyn,
Velkhe iz azoy tsikhtik, velkhe iz azoy
sheyn.
In mayn shtibl iz ruik, es griltst nor
di gril,
Arum shtibele flist zikh a vaserl shtil,
Arum shtibl — fil beymer, fil blumen
— arum,
Kum tsu mir in der nakht, mayn gelibter,
o kum!
Kum tsu mir, un dayn fidele nem mit zikh
mit,
Un du zolst oyf im shpiln an umetlk lid,
Aza lid, velkhe yomert, ful troyer un
shmarts,
Aza lld, velkhe shnaydt nor un rayst mir
dos harts.
Shpil a lid vegn eyner, vos troyert
un laydt,
Fremd tsu alemen, fremd, un fun eltern
vayt.
Shpil a lld vegn eyner, vos hungert on
broyt,
Velkhe iz azoy elnt, un shtendik in noyt.
Un di eyne bin ikh — o, to shpil zhe
dos lidl
Un alts shpil zhe un shpil zhe un ver
gornisht mid.
Ven es dremlt dos shtetl, di lodns —
farmakht,
Kum tsu mir, mayn gelibter, in fintsterer
nakht!
װען עס דרעמלט דאָס שטעטל, די לאָדנס פֿאַרמאַכט,
קום צו מיר, מײַן געליבטער, אין פֿינצטערער נאַכט.
הינטערן באַרג אַ קלײן שטיבעלע האָב איך מיר אַלײן,
װעלכע איז אַזױ ציכטיק, װעלכע איז אַזױ שײן.
אין מײַן שטיבל איז רויִק, עס גרילצט נאָר די גריל,
אַרום שטיבעלע פֿליסט זיך אַ װאַסערל שטיל,
אַרום שטיבל — פֿיל בײמער, פֿיל בלומען — אַרום.
קום צו מיר אין דער נאַכט, מײַן געליבטער, אָ קום!
קום צו מיר, און דײַן פֿידעלע נעם מיט זיך מיט,
און דו זאָלסט אױף אים שפּילן אַן אומעטיק ליד,
אַזאַ ליד, װעלכע יאָמערט, פֿול טרױער און שמאַרץ,
אַזאַ ליד, װעלכע שנײַדט נאָר און רײַסט מיר דאָס האַרץ.
שפּיל אַ ליד װעגן אײנער, װאָס טרױערט און לײַדט,
פֿרעמד צו אַלעמען, פֿרעמד, און פֿון עלטערן װײַט.
שפּיל אַ ליד װעגן אײנער, װאָס הונגערט אָן ברױט,
װעלכע איז אַזױ עלנט, און שטענדיק אין נױט.
און די אײנע בין איך — אָ, טאָ שפּיל זשע דאָס ליד!
און אַלץ שפּיל זשע און שפּיל זשע און װער גאָרנישט מיד.
װען עס דרעמלט דאָס שטעטל, די לאָדנס — פֿאַרמאַכט,
קום צו מיר, מײַן געליבטער, אין פֿינצטערער נאַכט!
Song Title: Ven Es Dremlt Dos Shtetl
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.
