Al Bowlly - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen

[alwinder60]

Great song!,thank you!,vielen dank!

[HeinrichRFSS]

Love him!!!!!



[maxthevid]

Listen Enjoy, remember, This is wonderful for the soul,

[rosiii718]

I was kindof expecting them to throw their hats in the air ...at the end

[rosiii718]

the leading woman was quite an elegant dancer...I had no idea people in the 30's were so care free and delightful and more......

[indmood4kinesis]

Bei mir bist du schön means your grand, I could say bella, bella

Or I could say wunderbar, each language only helps me tell you how grand you are

Bei mir bist du schön!!!! :-)

[LaurenNYC1]

It's a little different to hear this Yiddish song sung by an Englishman!

[rorydog1]

Beautiful! My father used to sing this to me when I was very little and he was not Jewish, but it is gorgeous like so much Jewish music.

[tonofdynamite]

Anyone know the name of the dance, it has some conversation piece and Vienesse Swing with a waltz style ending, but would like to know if it has a name....I like it, like that!

[postscript67]

@tonofdynamite You see the name of the dance near the end of the clip - "Park Parade". If you go on the British Pathe website you'll find this film with its original soundtrack. It shows the new dance being demonstrated at the Locarno, Streatham in early 1939. There is also film of the Palais Glide being introduced the previous year.

[dearmalika]

Love this song!

[vinceguz5159]

Yidish version (of which there are many on u tube) is wonderful. He was a star. v

[ouihotpot]

Is that a nurse I see at 1:51? How strange that she's gone to a dance in her uniform!

[al1blum]

Beautiful!

[racingrubberbiker]

Of course this is a Yiddish song, not German. Check out the original Yiddish versions on the Tube

[yedon68]

..i've fallen in love with this guy...he is wonderful...!

[xxpiggystardustxx]

al bowlly was awesome ,,my fave song of all time is ,THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU ,sang by al :)

[4AMsunshine]

Not disrespecting Bowlly at all, for I believe he is a great artist, but it always cracks me up when people mispronounce German words.

Schoen does not sound like "shane", lol. :]

[marsmoke]

Everyone who recorded the English version (The Andrews Sisters, Carmen Lombardo) pronounced it "shane" to ryme with "explain". Also, it's Yiddish, not German.

[4AMsunshine]

Sorry, I guess it was just hard to determine what language it is considering that the words of the title are German words as well as Yiddish and, to me, it was indistinguishable from Yiddish.

[DrDeadsy]

Bowlly had grown up in Johannisburg and spoke Afrikaans. I therefore suppose he could perfectly pronounce "schön", only it isn't meant to be a German word. As far as I know, the words are Jewish, so "Bey mir bis du sheyn" is the correct pronounciation.

[DrDeadsy]

Sorry, correction: I meant Yiddish, of course, not Jewish.

[danny21uk]

I think there is a clue in the song at 2:40, to confirm your Yiddish point - it's the opening bars to a Hebrew tune that would soon become Israel's national anthem.

[KlausVanBrueggen]

A true classic -- with thanks!!!

[hit004541]

Finally I find a male version of this great song :)

[janinehotlick]

what a stellar version of this song - i love al bowlly!

[LaVerne37]

This version is GREAT!!! A British friend told me to come to this site...I love it!!! I sang this at a party last year...I hope I sounded as good as this!!!

Andrews Fan In Texas......bella!!! bella!!!

[fedtrooper]

at c.1:40 is that girl in the white miniskirt really from the 1930s?

[bradybraidz]

lol, maybe she felt a bit risqué! :P

[glickle]

My guess is that the images are from the 20's based on the styles. The 1920's were quite permissive compared to the 30's

[racingrubberbiker]

Most of the dresses are below the knee, apart form the girl in white shorts (what a hussey!). This is typically mid-thirties.

[nauort23]

Why are all these men dancing with hats on (boaters, no less--weren't they out of style by then?)?  Are they outside?

[TALULAH13]

Thank you,Thank you,Thank you for adding this wonderful song sung by the One & Only!!!

[EricOdessit]

I always thought that the lyrics of this song should be addressed to a girl, rather than to a boy, like in Andrews Sisters version.

Eric.

[timboytx]

I agree with LKayL! Al was the best. Thanks for posting.

[LKayL]

The best version of this song ever, without a doubt!