yiddish songs

This melody, also known as Reb Dovid'l, Der Rebbe Hot Geheysn, and Tants, Tants, Yidelakh, may be the Turkey in the Straw of Eastern Europe. Several variants have turned up on dics made in the 1920s and 30s by Ukrainian, Polish, and Greek bands. Though the lyrics seem to mark this version as a 19th-century Hasidic drinking song recalling Rebbe Dovid'l of Talno, it could equally well be a satire of the Hasidim devised by their opponents the Misnagdim.

Yoshke, Yoshke, shpan dem loshek,
Zol er gikher loyfn,
Tomer vet er zikh obshteln
Veln mir im nit kenen farkoyfn.

Der Rebbe hot geheysn freylakh zayn,
Trinkn bronfn nisht keyn vayn.    Yoshke, Yoshke, pace the horse,
Let him run quickly.
If he stops,
We won't be able to sell him.

The Rebbe has told us to be merry
And to drink whiskey, not wine.