Words by Nokhem Yud (1888-1966) with music by Yankl Troupianski, popular composer and music teacher of the Yiddish schools in Warsaw and Vilna (1909 — killed by the Nazis in 1944). The song was published in Undzer gezang, 1947. It was the musical theme of the pre-World War II film Mir kumen on about the Medem Sanitarium in Miedzeszyn, Poland. Camp Hemshekh, New York, used this song as its anthem in the ’60s and ’70s. Another melody to the poem by Vladimir Heifetz was published in Gezang un kamf, no. 5, 1937.
Declare a holiday in all the markets,
and light fires on every mountain!
We are coming– storms without limit
from land to land, from sea to sea.
We are coming, we are coming!
We are coming, we are coming!
Our steps are firm and sure.
We are coming from the village and the city
with hunger blazing in our eyes,
with hearts longing for happiness.
We are coming, we are coming!
We are all walking firm and ready
our joy crackling brightly
we are striking fire from stones,
and whoever is young must walk with us!
A yomtev makht oyf ale merk,
Un fayern tsindt on oyf berg!
Mir kumen—shturems on a tsam,
Fun land tsu land, fun yam tsu yam.
Refrain:
Mir kumen on, mir kumen on!
Mir kumen on, mir kumen on!
Un fest un zikher undzer trot!
Mir kumen on fun dorf un shtot.
Mit hunger-fayern in blik,
Mit hertser oysgebenkt nokh glik!
Mir kumen on, mir kumen on!
Mir geyen ale fest un greyt
Vi likhtik flakert undzer freyd;
Mir shlogn fayer oys fun shteyn
Un ver s’iz yung—muz mit undz geyn!
אַ יום-טובֿ מאַכט אױף אַלע מערק,
און פֿײַערן צינדט אָן אױף בערג!
מיר קומען – שטורעמס אָן אַ צאָם,
פֿון לאַנד צו לאַנד, פֿון ים צו ים.
רעפֿרײן:
מיר קומען אָן, מיר קומען אָן!
מיר קומען אָן, מיר קומען אֶן!
און פֿעסט און זיכער אונדזער טראָט!
מיר קומען אָן פֿון דאָרף און שטאָט.
מיט הונגער-פֿײַערן און בליק,
מיט הערצער אױסגעבענקט נאָך גליק!
מיר קומען אָן, מיר קומען אָן!
מיר גײען אַלע פֿעסט און גרײט
װי ליכטיק פֿלאַקערט אונדזער פֿרײד;
מיר שלאָגן פֿײער אױס פֿון שטײן
און װער סיאיז יונג – מוז מיט אונדז גײן!
Song Title: Mir Kumen On
The Songs of Generations: New Pearls of Yiddish Song anthology comprises songs that were either never printed before or appeared in rare and inaccessible publications — sometimes in different versions and without proper sources. Most of the songs in this book were submitted by readers of Chana and Yosl’s column “Perl fun der yidisher poezye” (Pearls of Yiddish Poetry) in the Yiddish newspaper Der Forverts (The Forward), initiated in October, 1970. Over 25 years, thousands of songs were collected in correspondence and on cassettes from readers throughout the world, and they represent a veritable national Yiddish song archive. Chana Mlotek, in her introduction, writes, “In the course of years the inquiries, contributions and enthusiasm of these readers have kept our own interest unflagging and have reinforced our dedication to this effort. And in recent years our participants have also been augmented by new readers from the former Soviet Russia, who receive our newspaper there or from newly-arrived immigrants in this country and Israel.”
