Shadows - Songs from Testimonies, Vol. 3 audio CD with booklet (liner notes, lyrics with transliterations and translations)
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Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Side D contains original testimnonies' audio clips from the Fortunoff Video Archive, edited and mastered for this edition.
Includes unlimited streaming of Shadows - Songs from Testimonies, Vol. 3
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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about
Efsher hot ir finef sent?—אפֿשר האָט איר פֿינף סענט?—Do You Have Five Cents?
In his testimony, Jack M. recounts how he was transferred to an open-air slave labor camp in Sulejów, Poland in 1943-44. After work the prisoners would gather in a barrack with a piano, and a former Jewish courtyard singer from Warsaw, known under the moniker Moreno, used to perform for everyone. One of Moreno’s songs was a significantly altered variant of the world-famous American song from the Great Depression, Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? by Yip Harburg and Jay Gorney. It is quite possible that this version originated in the Yiddish theatre in Warsaw.
Ikh vil nokh ayn mul mikh upesn zat
Fin mayn hinger in noy[e]t,
Ikh hob shoyn dray teg nit mayn monet gehat
In shenkt mir a shtikale broyt!
Ikh bin amul geveyzn a raykher man,
Mayn numen geven balibt in bakant.
Geveyn amul a khukhem,
In haynt bin ikh a nar.
Efsher hot ir finef sent?
Men hot mir aplodirt,
Blumen mir gebrakht
Kritiker of yeydn trit un shrit.
Yeydn afdernakht banketn mir gemakht,
Haynt anerkent nisht kayner mayn talent.
A tsvayter shpilt mayn rolye
In trugt mayn kroyn.
Men anerkent mer nisht mayn talent!
Men zugt az ikh bin oyver botl shoyn,
In efsher hot ir finef sent?
I want to eat till I’m full sometime again,
Away from my hunger and need,
For three days I haven’t made my living,
So give me a piece of bread!
Once I was a rich man,
My name was beloved and renowned.
Once I was a sage,
And today I am a fool.
So maybe you’ve got five cents?
They used to give me rounds of applause,
Brought me flowers,
The critics were there at every single footstep.
Every evening they would throw me banquets,
Today no one recognizes my talent.
Another one plays my role
And wears my crown,
They don’t recognize my talent anymore.
They say, I am senile and useless now,
So maybe you’ve got five cents?
credits
from Shadows - Songs from Testimonies, Vol. 3,
released January 19, 2024
Music based on the song by Jay Gorney; Yiddish lyrics: unknown, loosely based on the English text by Yip Harburg (1932). Arranged by D. Zisl Slepovitch.
Performed by Jack M. testimony hvt.1555.
supported by 6 fans who also own “Efsher hot ir finef sent?”
One of the best new albums of Yiddish and Klezmer music on Bandcamp in my opinion. The collaboration of two sensitive artists of different generations who know a lot about Yiddish and American music.
dcarkner
supported by 5 fans who also own “Efsher hot ir finef sent?”
One of my favourite musical discoveries in a while. These musicians are seriously talented. I can’t help imagining that there would have been a whole significant subculture of Yiddish psych rock like this in a different, kinder universe. For now, this is a window into that world that might have been. And I love every second of it. Audrey
Raw black metal that brooks no compromises, this has all the ferocious guitars, lo-fi aesthetics and infernal howling you crave. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 30, 2023
Led by klezmer phenom David Krakauer, this collaborative LP develops international sounds into an celebration of our common humanity. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 2, 2022
