DER YIDDISH-VINKL November 5, 2004
Ruth Rubin’s book “Jewish Folk Songs,” published about a half-century ago, remains one of the treasure troves of Yiddishkeit in America. The multitalented Rubin was a performer, a recording artist and a translator of Yiddish folk songs into English. What follows is one of her masterpieces, titled “Sheyn Bin Ikh, Sheyn.”
Sheyn Bin Ikh, Sheyn
Sheyn bin ikh, sheyn, sheyn iz oykh mayn nomen
Redt men mir shidukhim mit groyse rabonim.
Rabonishe toyre iz dokh zeyer groys
Bin ikh bay mayn mamen a likhtike royz.
A sheyn meydele bin ikh
Bloye zekelekh trog ikh,
Gelt in di tashn;
Bir in di flashn.
Vayn in di krigelekh
Kinder in di vigelekh.
Shrayen vi di tsigelekh
Meh, meh, meh.
I’m So Pretty
I am so pretty, pretty’s what they call me
Mother’s looking for a rabbi she wants me to marry.
Wisdom of the Torah is better far than money
Mother’s very proud of me, her sweet, rosy honey.
Pretty, pretty, that am I
I wear socks, blue like the sky.
Wine in the brown jugs
Beer in the green mugs.
Money’s pretty hard to keep
In the cradles, babies weep.
Like the little woolly sheep
Meh, meh, meh.
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