Researching Yiddish penny songs (tenement song broadsides of theater and variety show songs, 1895-1925)
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List of the still-lost songs: do you know any of them?
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Sunday, April 5, 2026

Katsap's mapole and Port Arthur - (Russia's Downfall) by Max Zavodnik - the Ikea versions

UPDATE: Arun Viswanath is working on indexing and transcribing the songs his great-grandmother Lifshe Schaechter-Widman sang to Barbara Kirschenblatt in the early 1970s, many hours of recordings, and he's finding wonderful things. He contacted me about this song and then found a musical transcription of Katsap's Mapole in Shmuel Lehman's Arbet un Frayhayt entitled there Yeder eyner veys.

Russia's downfall
To sing with the melody of
"Sholem Aleichem"
Created by
badkhn Max Zavodnik Port Arthur
Created by Max Zavodnik
To sing with the English melody
"Good Bye my Blue Bell"
(click for full-sized image)

I don't feel like putting either of these together because the tunes are not very interesting.
So I'm giving you the pieces in case you want to put it together yourself.

The Sholem Aleichem referenced here is available at the Library of Congress website here: Sigmund Mogilewsko's Roaring Success - Sholem Aleichem - from the Opera DER-CHEREM IN BETH-HAMIKDOTH

The other tune, Blue Bell, is available here: Blue Bell, by Madden and Morse. (Note how the girl he is planning to leave behind is wearing white, the ubiquitous symbol of purity.)
Below, a transcription of Max Zavodnik's text. (The other song, Port Arthur, referencing the Battle of Port Arthur, is after the jump.) Interestingly Zavodnik states that Japan's defeat of Russia was divine retribution for the Kishinev pogrom.

A yeder eyner veys vi mekhtik un vi groys
Iz geven di rusishe medine
Zi hot zikh forgeshteltfar der gantser velt
Az zi shpilt di greste role af di bine
Un di mekhte fun arum zaynen geblibn shtum
Tsaygndik zayn heldishe gvure
Fun di dume kep mit di lange tsep
Hot er tsugenumen a shtik land mandzshuriye (Manchuria)

Ober yetst - zet nor vi er hot oysgekreynkt
Az dos vet im aropgeyn glat hot er zikh gedeynkt
Yapon hot zikh gegn im geshtelt
Mit di simpatiye fun der gantser velt
Un shlogt dem Fonye dem groyser held

Endlekh zikh dervart vos mir hobn gegart
Dos iz far undz di eyntsike nekhome
Az der rusisher tiran fun dem kleyniker Yapon
Khapt yetst klep in der blutiker milkhome
Ayngezunken tif a shif nokh a shif
Zayn shtrof hot er endlekh yetst bakumen
Getsaygt hot im es Got az ales vos er hot
Iz nor far di blutike pogromen

Zol nit denken der katsap az dos iz der letster klap
Nit eyner tut af im dem meser sharfn
In zayn eygn land muz er vatshn yede hand
Koym vil im ver a bombe untervarfn
Far dem nihilistn bund tsitert yetst der hund
Tsores hot er fun beyde zaytn
Umshuldike fekshikt? nekshikt?
Rabe nemen zey yetst fun dervaytn

Dos iz dokh virklikh sheyn, prakhtfol on tsu zen
Shteyendik un kukn fun dervaytn
Vi a ber mit a flig zaynen aroys in krig
Un der shvakher zol dem shtarkn faytn
Dos zeyen mir atsind vi feik un geshvind
Der kleyner yapon halt im ongebundn
Yetst batsolt er gut far keshenever blut
Nokh nit farheylt hobn zikh yene vundn

Admiral Makarov hot gekhapt a shvartsn sof
A yam kazak iz er geven der grester
Feter Pavlovsk iz oykh geven a shif gor ontsuzen
Es git keyn tsveytn zol fun ir zeyn fester
In eyn oygnblik tseshtetert zi in shtik
In tifn yam muzn zey yetst foyln
Zey visn Makarov az do iz nit Kishenov
Kleyne kinder dort oys tsu koyln

>>>>>READ MORE >>>>>

by melinama @ 10:35 AM

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Luft, luft, luft (Air, air, air) - one of Solomon Small's Yiddish parlor songs

I've published some videos recently of songs by Solomon Smulewitz (Solomon Small) that are found on the Library of Congress website. I was wondering what to call them: they weren't sold on the street, so they're not really penny songs. They weren't, as far as I know, sung in the Yiddish theater. I think what they are is the Yiddish equivalent of parlor songs. Smulewitz put them out in albums, probably for singing in the home.

The language is difficult. Since the songs are usually published without oysyes (probably for an audience which was losing its ability to read them), and the transliterations are inconsistent and not at all up to klal Yiddish standards, a lot of guessing is involved. I've discovered the language of this time and place (early 1900s, New York) enrages or disgusts today's Yiddishists with its Daytshmerisms and Yinglish. I think, though, there is a lot to be learned about the time and place by studying (or singing) these songs. There are dissertations by the dozens waiting to be written! Here's my living room recording from yesterday:

Luft, luft, luft was written for or about people simultaneously besotted with and terrified by "progress," especially as it included women gaining some rights, voicing opinions, and behaving other than the docile and fecund homemakers men seemed to long for. This is reflected in the trope of wild partying up on the roofs during summer heat waves. "Boarders" were unattached single men (or maybe they'd left their wives back in Europe, same difference) who were perhaps dallying with women regardless of age or marital status. Hence the "swollen" state of some of these women after the roof orgies.

Another trope is the consequence of "allrightniks" now wealthy enough to do as the goyim did and spend summers in the country or, more commonly, to send their wives to the country while they stayed in the city for work and/or relief from their wives. Evidently this arrangement led to dalliances in both locations.

by melinama @ 9:55 AM

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Der oyfzayn a nakht

Since I ran out of penny songs (the ones I could find, anyway) I've gone into the Library of Congress Yiddish sheet music collection and found a few good songs by Solomon Small (was Solomon Smulewitz).

The first one, "Cruel Fate" (or Atrocious Destiny, which I like better) was a downer. This one is just fun.

I continue to do these alone in my living room. I wanted to point up the syncopation in the chorus and I thought plectrum instruments would be best for that, but I don't play any. However, I do own a guitar and a mandolin. So I've made a library file for each of them by turning on the mic and playing the same note over and over until I got a good sound for it. Then I saved that note on a track. I copy-and-paste the parts note by note. Jerry Brown, a great musician and owner / recording engineer at the Rubber Room, laughed his head off at this approach (he actually plays guitar and mandolin).

I spent a lot of time copy-and-pasting the transliteration of this song as well. Usually I try to wrestle the written texts, which are for us modern people pretty peculiar transliterations, back into klal yidish. Sometimes the oysyes are provided but often (as in this case) they aren't. I want people who are interested in this period to see what the spelling looked like back then, because if you search for something using our modern transliteration, you will often be frustrated. You have to be imaginative. For instance, I would never have looked for "Der Auf Sein a Nakht."

I realized when I was making the video that I sang some bloopers. Sorry. When you sing it yourself, you can do better! Here it is:

Contact me: JanePeppler@gmail.com

by melinama @ 9:13 AM

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Since I ran out of Penny Songs, I thought I'd skim the Library of Congress Yiddish sheet music collection, and I started with a few written by Solomon Small (formerly Solomon Smulewitz). This one, as you see from the title, is from the show "Forbidden Fruit" (Farbotene Frukht) and was sung by Bessie Thomashefsky and "Master Lubritzky" who must have been some kid actor. It obviously was meant for an orchestra accompaniment but all you get is me in my living room.

by melinama @ 9:11 AM

Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Professor Abraham Hochman, devoted advertiser on Yiddish penny songsheets

UPDATE: I found the links on this post were broken so I fixed them because the images are amazing. AND, I got the cover of "Keys to Prophecy" colorized by a nice lady in Australia (click for full size):

Also, at some point during the 11 years since I first published this post, I heard from one of Abraham Hochman's granddaughters (she found me by googling this article). Turns out nobody currently alive in the family knew their grandfather had been a famous mind-reader. As I say below, by the end of his life he had come down from his splendid career as world-renowned psychic even written up in the New York Times, to being a waiter in a Catskills hotel (I think Houdini destroyed the psychic gig with his widely-publicized debunkings). I gave her my copy of Keys to Prophecy.

Why were there so many psychics advertising on the Yiddish Penny Songs broadsheets? My theory: being a psychic is a business with extremely low start-up costs. You just need two chairs and a pack of cards.

One of the most loyal Yiddish broadside advertisers was Professor Hochman. He was promoting (1) his services as a mind reader, (2) his book about do-it-yourself phrenology, dream reading etc., and (3) his hall at 169 Rivington Street on the lower East Side which he rented out for weddings (and with the rental you got a photo of yourself and your new spouse). Regarding the skull here (click for larger view), taken from his book: If you look carefully you'll see Hochman credits the picture here to Holmes W. Merton. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, it turns out that Descriptive mentality from the head, face and hand by Holmes Whittier Merton 1899 is online, you can download it for free, there are lots of pictures, it's pretty great.

According to Leksikon fun der nayer Yidisher literatur Hochman was born in 1862 and was still living around 1960. He and his parents came over from Russia when he was a child.

According to the 1910 census: I found Abraham Hochman born 1866 (so he'd made himself four years younger), married 23 years to Rosy, both born in Austria, with children Isy and Regina born in Austria and Maxy, Willie, Rubin, and Franky born in New York. They both said they were born in Austria. He immigrated in 1891, she in 1893. His occupation there at 169 Rivington Street: Mind Reader, Own Parlor. By 1925 the family had moved to Richfield Springs, Otsego county, where he was a hotel employee.

Here's my translation of one of his wordy ads (original is at the bottom of this post):

געהײמע קראַפט, אדער, דער שליסעל צו דער נבואה : װאו עס װערט ערקלעהרט װעגען פּראָפעטען, נאַכט װאַנדלער, שלאָף־רעדנער
An explanation of secret strength, or, the key to prophecy

A book will soon be coming out which will arouse great interest in all circles, this is a book about prophets, night wandering, sleep talking, dreams, physionomy, hand reading, face reading, and telepathy. The book will contain a correct and detailed explanation of dream interpretation so that people can interpret a dream themselves, it will deal with the question of prophecy in old and modern times and will give a complete understanding of mind reading, and a lesson on how people can cast lots for themselves, the book will be published in three languages: Yiddish, German, and English.

It will be published on fine paper with a fine cover, it will have more than 88 pages [not true]. It's sufficient to say that this book is created and distributed by the world renowned thought reader Professor Hochman from 169 Rivington Street, he who has so many years of experience along these lines, and one can understand how important this book will be, it's copyrighted in Washington, and it will come out at the end of this month. One can receive it from all booksellers and in all book stores, price 25 cents.

Also thanks to the wonders of the internet, I found that Eddy Portnoy wrote a great article for Tablet Magazine about Hochman, it's called In the Palm of His Hand.

Also thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to buy The Key ... to Prophecy by Prof. Abraham Hochman copyright 1909 on eBay! This picture of Hochman, and the skull seen above, are from the book. Click for larger view.

Here is the ad as it appears in the American Yiddish Penny Songs collection, click for a larger view:

Labels: advertisements, New York, occult

by melinama @ 4:07 PM

Thursday, February 12, 2026

Dos lid fun Yarmulovski (about the crash of the S. Jarmulowsky bank on the Lower East Side in 1914)

UPDATE: I first posted this ten years ago, but yesterday I decided to record it again, this time with all the verses, and with keyboard. My voice is ten years older but my indignation is fresh and young. The song ends: "One who dares steal even just a bit of bread is severely punished. When someone flays the skin from thousands of people? He's called a wise man." Here is the new recording:

It took a while to find the historic figures of this song. Yarmulovski the elder is Alexander (Sender) Jarmulowsky. Ordained as a rabbi, he married the daughter of a wealthy merchant and established a shipping firm in Germany, then emigrated in the early 1870s to New York City, where he founded the S. Jarmulowsky bank on the Lower East Side.

Jarmulowsky was known as the "East Side J.P. Morgan" and his bank was the area's first skyscraper. He died, however, within weeks of the building's completion. His sons inherited it, made bad investments, and a few years later went bust.

Most of its depositors were poor and counted on being able to withdraw their savings to send to European relatives when World War I was beginning. In August 1914 5,000 depositors gathered in front of the skyscraper and demanded their savings. They then paraded to City Hall, where some were clubbed and arrested (see New York Times article from August 30, 1914 at the bottom of this post). The bank was closed in 1917 and many of the depositors were left with nothing.

Here's the 2016 recording - with Jim Baird on bass - of the song Max Zavodnik wrote about their misery:

The song's full title is Dos lid fun Yarmolovski, Max Kobre un Mandel di 3 bankirer un zeyere korbones. (The Song about Jarmulowsky, Max Kobre and Mandel, the Three Bankers, and Their Victims.) These culprits were Sender's two sons, Meyer and Louis Jarmulowsky, Max Kobre, and Adolf Mandel. The final words of the song ring true today:

When someone dares steal even just a bit of bread
He's severely punished
When someone flays the skin from thousands of people
He's called a wise man

This text is written to the melody of a song called Troymende shlefer, also the underlying melody for the workers' song Vos vet zayn der sof?. I still had the bass accompaniment from that recording that song, so here it is again, and thanks again to Jim Baird the bassist!

Transliteration and translation after the jump.

>>>>>READ MORE >>>>>
Labels: disaster, history, New York, travails, workers

by melinama @ 9:26 PM

Friday, December 31, 2021

Der liarman - Isaac Reingold's Yiddish version of Schubert's Der Leiermann

It's a good day for endings.

Franz Schubert was born in 1797 and died in 1828. Winterreise (Winter's Journey) is a series of songs he wrote to texts by Wilhelm Müller. He knew he was dying, of syphilis; he was correcting the page proofs days before he died at the age of 31. He invited a friend: "Come to Schober's today and I will play you a cycle of terrifying songs; they have affected me more than has ever been the case with any other songs."

Isaac Reingold, who wrote so many of the funny and touching Yiddish lyrics featured on this blog (put his name in the search box to find them all), was, at the age of 30, himself dying, of tuberculosis and alcoholism, when he wrote his version of Schubert's song about a hurdy gurdy man, a beggar, who plays in the street, ignored or mocked by passers by. This is the only penny song which was written to a classical melody. At the end, when the narrator asks the street musician: "Will you play my songs on your hurdy gurdy?" surely Reingold was asking if his work would endure after his death.

I saved this song for the end of the Lider magazin project, or rather, the trauma of getting it done was terminal! I began, optimistically, a full year ago, securing someone's promise to sing it (as I knew it was no song for me). Hurdy gurdy player Tania Opland sent me her tracks in January. Then the project languished, to my increasing despondency, through winter and spring and summer and fall until finally my dear friend and singing companion Randy Kloko saved it by driving up from Florida earlier this month to record the vocals.

So, my eternal thanks to Randy for being part of this adventure, and thanks to Tania for waiting patiently (in the mean time she got so enthused about the song she did her own double-hurdy-gurdy version, in English). And thanks to Jack Herrick who put in hours with me mixing the song as the holiday season approached and I'm sure he had lots of better things to do.

Thanks to Vivi Lachs, who sent me the 20-some issues of Lider magazin which I've been working on for the last few years.

And thanks to those of you who have taken the time to let me know these songs have moved you in some way.
Here's our living room recording.

Transliteration and translation after the jump.
>>>>>READ MORE >>>>>

by melinama @ 5:50 PM