Yentl comes to America - Di Grine Kuzine- yiddish song

Tzu mir is gekumen a kuzine
Shein vi gold iz zi geven, di grine.
Bekelach vi roite pomerantzn,
Fiselach vos betn zich tzum tantzn

Herelech vi zaidn-veb gelokte
Tzeindelech, vi perelech getokte
Eygelech vi himl-bloi in friling
Lipelech vi karshelech a tzviling

Nisht gegangen is zi, nor geshprungen,
Nisht geredt hot zi nor gezungen
Lebedik un freilech yede mine
Ot aza geven is main kuzine!

Un azoi ariber zainen yorn
Fun main kuzine is a tel gevorn
Peydes (Hasonim) hot zi vochenlang geklibn
Biz fun ir iz gornisht nit geblibn

Haint az ich bagegn main kuzine
Un ich freg ir: "s'machstu epes, grine?"
Ziftzt zi op, un ch'leien in ir mine:
"Brenen zol Colombus'es medine!"

TRANSLITERATION
My green cousin came to me.
She is my pretty green cousin,
With cheeks like red oranges
And her little feet just begging for a dance

Her curly hair was like silk,her white teeth - like
pearls,
her eyes - like the blue skies in springtime
and her lips like
cherries
in the summer.

She didn't walk, she jumped,
she didn't speak, she sang,
lively and happy every minute,
that was my cousin.

What a beauty my cousin used to be.
Many years passed.
Her judgment of young men was too strict
And she remained single

Today, I meet my cousin and ask her,
"How are you doing, my green cousin?"
She only sighs, and replies,
"Let this Columbus's land burn!"



Title: Di Grine Kuzine -- די גרינע קוזינע
Also known as: Kuzine (Di Grine Kuzine)
Author: Leyzerovitz, Yakov -- לײזעראָװיץ, יעקבֿ
Composer: Schwartz, Abe -- שװאַרץ, אײב
Genre: Immigration/Lament
Subject: Immigration/Poverty

English version:
My Little Cousin (Sam Braverman, Cy Coben, Happy Lewis, Eli Basse) February 5, 1942

Title: My Little Cousin
Author: Cy Cohen
Composer: Sam Braverman
Composer: Herbert (Happy) Lewis
Genre: Novelty/Pop
Subject: Cousin/Love/Marriage/Proposal
Additional song notes: Takeoff of "Di Grine Kuzine"
On album: F-045(a)2 (From Avenue A To The Great White Way/ Yiddish & American Popular Songs/ Disk 2)
Artist: Benny Goodman Orchestra
Trumpet Benny Privin
Trumpet Jimmy Maxwell
Trumpet Al Davis
Trombone Lou McGarity
Trombone Cutty Cutshall
Alto Saxaphone Clint Neagly
Alto Saxaphone Sol Kane
Tenor Saxaphone Vido Musso
Tenolr Saxaphone George Berg
Baritone Saxaphone Art Ralston
Piano/Arranger Mel Powell
Electric Guitar Tom Morgan
String Bass Sid Weiss
Drums Ralph Collier
Vocal Peggy Lee
Leader/Clarinet Benny Goodman
First line: Have you heard about my little cousin, she had boys proposing by the dozens,
Language: English
Style: Swing/Big Band
Length: 03:18




Di Grine Kuzine by Theodore Bikel.
Yankele. and Florence Singer Shustack.
My Little Cousin by Benny Goodman and
his Orchestra, Peggy Lee, vocal.

The movie YENTL: Isaac Bashevis Singer, the
author of the short story "Yentl the Yeshiva Boy" on which the movie is based
criticized Barbra Streisand for ending the
movie with Yentl going to America. He wrote
this in a "self-interview" in THE TIMES:
"This is what Miss Streisand did by making Yentl, whose greatest passion was the Torah, go on a ship to America, singing at the top of her lungs. Why would she decide to go to America? Weren't there enough yeshivas in Poland or in Lithuania where she could continue to study? Was going to America Miss Streisand's idea of a happy ending for Yentl? What would Yentl have done in America? Worked in a sweatshop 12 hours a day where there is no time for learning? Would she try to marry a salesman in New York, move to the Bronx or to Brooklyn and rent an apartment with an ice box and a dumbwaiter? This kitsch ending summarizes all the faults of the adaptation. It was done without any kinship to Yentl's character, her ideals, her sacrifice, her great passion for spiritual achievement."
I doubt that Yentl would work in a sweatshop in America. I would place her in
the jewish educational milieu of New York.

Yiddish theatre- The effect of the Holocaust

Like the rest of Yiddish-language culture, Yiddish theatre was devastated by the Holocaust. A major portion of the world's Yiddish-speakers were killed and many theatres were destroyed. Many of the surviving Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi emigrated to Israel, where many assimilated into the emerging Hebrew-language culture. Although its glory days have passed, Yiddish theatre companies still perform in various Jewish communities. The Folksbiene (People's Theatre) company in New York City is still active 90 years after it was founded.

Барбра Стрейзанд

イディッシュ語

Еврей
ברברה סטרייסנד

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Di
• Grine
• Kuzine
• Theodore
• Bikel
• Yankele
• Florence
• Singer
• Shustack
• Benny
• Goodman
• Peggy
• Lee
• Barbra
• Streisand
• Jewish
• Yiddish
• Идиш

[chengloki]

I used to love Barbara. I would be really anxious to hear her voice, remember the "piano skit"??? But, she went actavist. What qualification does she have?She crossed the line. Such a beautiful woman. I wan't my Barbara back. =Stefan=

[albertdiner]

By "piano skit" are you referring to a film

or a TV special? Barbra has done a lot since

the early 1960s.

[10583190]

wELL DONE! iN 100 YEARS, THEWE SONGS WILL BE HISTORY AND NO ONE WILL UNDERSTAND THEM! SO DANCE, DANCE DANCE NOW!!!!

[davidschwarze]

AM ISRAEL CHAI

[deepkeel65]

@chengloki: What qualification does she have to be an activist? Ummm.... how about intelligent, critical-thinking American citizen?

[buddmar]

What a happy, joyful song, but the message is bittersweet. Thank you for posting this.

[Georgewos]

Benny Goodman recorded this song in English sung by Peggy Lee.

[lilicroix]

Un grand merci pour ces merveilles

[freshair345]

What qualifications??? She's a concerned citizen,and an artist.Life is short. No lines were crossed.