Yiddish Song From the Shtetl

The song from the repertoire of Mariam Nirenberg, Jewish folksinger from Czarnawczyce near Kobryn in 20’s and early 30’s of XXth C. It’s part of the CD Jewish Folksongs from the Shtetl / Jewish Polesye. Vocal: Olga Avigail Mieleszczuk, violin: Daniel Hoffman, clarinet: Ittai Binnun, accordion: Ofer Shalchin When I was thirteen years old, I came of age I went to work to avoid the dole I ended up on relief and had lots of troubles The matchmaker confused me with the cursed: ’I do’. I got engaged and immediately got married May my enemies be cursed with a shrew like the one I got No sooner does a person want to marry He is worse then converted He is sunk the minute he says: ’I do’. When I became twenty one years old I was drafted into the army, of all things I was soldier for Alexander The Third Nothing has made me suffer as much as saying: ’I do’. (translation: Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett) (Oy vey! Oy vey! Yoshke is gone, One more kiss and the train will leave...)