English Lyrics

Bubby played the mandolin, and as she played she cried
For it brought back all the melodies the years had helped to hide
Oh, the years go by, people live and die
The love gets locked inside your heart
But a melody has a special way
Of breaking the lock apart.
She always wanted us to eat, for as a child she was hungry
She baked us butter cookies and the jar was never empty
Oh, the recipe she gave to me
And each step she'd explain
And I tried to make them many times
But they never turned out the same.

She spoke English with a little Yiddish
And Yiddish with some English now and then
And oh, wouldn't I give anything,
Just to see my Bubby once again!

Bubby came from Poland
in 1924
she never heard from family again
At the end of the war

Oh, the years go by...

Translation