Re: Those Were the Days

[Spudicmikhl <Spudicmikhl...>]

Hi Lorele,

       Teddi Schwartz has done a wonderful translation of this song into 
Yiddish, from the original English text of Gene Raskin. 
        She can be heard singing this song on a cassette entitled: "Kumt 
Arayn - Walk Right In - American Songs in Yiddish"  The cassette dates from 
the early 1970s, reissued in 1990 by Global Village Music. I believe the 
Workmen's Circle Bookstore in New York, among others, carries this cassette.
       Other great titles include: "Mir geyen tsu a Hukilau" ("The Hukilau 
Song"); "Bashke fun Payk" ("Sweet Betsy from Pike").  "My Bonnie" becomes 
"Mayn Manye," "Go Way from my Window" becomes "Avek fun mayn Fenster" and 
there's a rabble rousing version of "Tavern in the Town," masterfully 
rendered by Teddi as "Kretshme in der Shtot."   I had the great pleasure of 
playing on some gigs with Teddi (now well into her 80s, living in Manhattan) 
and she really knows how to entertain an audience, invigorating her guitar 
playing with every vaudeville trick of the trade, including some very mean 
kazoo playing.   Teddi's  version of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" 
(unfortunately not on the cassette) was a treat that one can barely describe: 
something you had to experience LIVE!   By the way, Teddi did the original 
translation--this time from Yiddish into English--of "Dona Dona," the 
"official" version that is copyrighted with ASCAP.  

 ... Anyway, getting back to "Those were the Days,"  Lorele, let me attempt 
to render the fine print transcription from the cassette--a true test for my 
new eyeglass prescription I might add.  In fact, the cassette notes contain 
Teddi Schwartz's Yiddish translation of that title and all the others 
rendered into Yiddish.  She copyrighted her Yiddish version of "Those were 
the Days" in 1970, with permission of Essex Music Inc:

       Geven a Tsayt

Vi oft mir flegn trefn zikh in shenkl,
Mir zenen yung un narish dan geven;
Gedeynsktu vi mir flegn dort farbreyngen,
Troymen vos iz keyn mol nit geshen.

Geven a tsayt, mayn fraynd,
Ay, vi es beynkt zikh haynt,
Mir flegn hulyen, lakhn gantse nekht.
dan hobn fis geshpringen,
Un dos harts gezungen, ay, a tsayt,
Mayn fraynd, geven a tsayt.
   Day, day....

Dos lebn geyt nit imer vi gevuntshn,
Mir hobn zikh tseheydt af yorn lang,
Un nokh dem ven mir hobn zikh getrofn,
Demont in yene tsaytn mit gezang.
   Geven a tsayt...

Kh'bin haynt banakht geshtanen farn shenkl,
Getrakht, "Ay ven ikh volt gekent zayn dayns,"
Geshpiglt zikh in fenster un gefregt im,
"Iz dos modne ponem take mayns?"
   Geven a tsayt...

Plutslung zenen tirn zikh tsefloygn,
Ikh hob gehert mayn nomen vi a mol,
Mir zenen itster elter nor nit kliger,
Mit troymen vi in yungt, on a tsol.
    Geven a tsayt...


Michael Spudic
Forest Hills, NY