Folksong published in 1912 by Y. L. Cahan. It was part of the repertoire of the well-known Warsaw folk singer Zimroh Zeligfeld. The beginning of the melody is similar to the song “Shoshanas Yaakov.” It was one of 11 Yiddish songs translated into Russian that were set to music by Dmitri Shostakovich in his From Jewish Folk Poetry, Opus 79 (1948).
Oh, Avrom, I cannot exist without you.
Neither I without you nor you without me,
neither of us can be!
Do you remember, do you remember how by the gate
you whispered a secret in my ear?
— Oh my, my dear Rifke,
give me that cute little snout of yours to kiss!
Oh, Avrom, I cannot be without you.
one of us without the other
is like a doorknob without a door.
Do you remember, do you remember how on the boulevard
I was the clever one, and you the fool?
— Oh my, my dear Rifke
give me that cute little snout of yours to kiss!
Oh, Avrom, I cannot be without you.
I without you and you without me,
neither of us can be!
Do you remember, do you remember my red dress?
Oh, was I a beauty!
— Oh my, my dear Rifke
give me that cute little snout of yours to kiss!
Oy, Avrom, ikh ken on dir nisht zayn!
Ikh on dir un du on mlr
Kenen mir beyde nisht zayn!
Gedenkstu, gedenkstu bay dem toyer,
Hostu mir gezogt a sod in oyer:
— Oy-vey, Rifkenyu,
Gib zhe mir dos piskenyu!
Oy, Avrom, ikh ken on dlr nisht zayn,
Ikh on dir un du on mir
Iz vi a klyamke on a tir!
Gedenkstu, gedenkstu oyf dem bulvar,
Ikh der kluger, un du, der nar,
— Oy-vey, Rifkenyu,
Gib zhe mir dos piskenyu!
Oy, Avrom, ikh ken on dlr nisht zayn,
Ikh on dir un du on mir
Kenen mir beyde nisht zayn!
Gedenkstu, gedenkstu dos royte kleydl,
Oy, bin ikh geven a sheyn meydl;
— Oy-vey, Rifkenyu,
Gib zhe mir dos piskenyu!
אױ, אַבראַם, איך קען אָן דיר נישט זײַן!
איך אָן דיר און דו אָן מיר
קענען מיר בײדע נישט זײַן!
געדענקסטו, געדענקסטו בײַ דעם טױער,
האָסטו מיר געזאָגט אַ סוד אין אױער:
— אױ־װײ, רבֿקהניו,
גיב זשע מיר דאָס פּיסקעניו!
אױ, אַבראַם, איך קען אָן דיר נישט זײַן,
איך אָן דיר און דו אָן מיר
איז װי אַ קליאַמקע אָן אַ טיר!
געדענקסטו, נעדענקסטו אױף דעם בולװאַר,
איך, דער קלוגער, און דו, דער נאַר,
— אױ־װײ, רבֿקהניו,
גיב זשע מיר דאָס פּיסקעניו!
אױ, אַבראַם, איך קען אָן דיר נישט זײַן,
איך אָן דיר און דו אָן מיר
קענען מיר בײדע נישט זײַן!
געדענקסטו, געדענקסטו דאָס רױטע קלײדל,
אױ, בין איך געװען אַ שײן מײדל,
— אױ־װײ, רבֿקהניו,
גיב זשע מיר דאָס פּיסקעניו!ּ
Song Title: Oy, Abram
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.
