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Translated Songs
Vaudeville
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Yiddish Theater
Original language
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Original lyrics
La vida do por el raki, No puedo (yo)* dexarlo, De bever nunca me harti, De tanto amarlo. Cuando esta en el barril, El no havla de todo, Cuando me hago (yo) kandil,* // Cuand me ago kyor kandil Me hago banyos de lodo. // Me kaygo en el lodo * //Repeat first verse El ya mos haze divorsar casamientos de oro.* La vida (yo) kiero pasar, con rizas y con lloros //Repeat first verse Me siento (yo) hijo varon, Me siento (yo) primario. Sin tener liras en el kashon, Me siento milyonario. //Repeat first verse *(yo) may serve a lyrical purpose as it does not seem to serve any grammatical purpose. *kandil = "oil lamp" This line really means: "When I become an oil lamp" Probably an old slang phrase for becoming drunk. *"casamientos de oro" (marriages of gold)may have been the old way of saying "bodas de oro" (weddings of gold). A "Golden Wedding" is a marriage celebrating its 50th anniversary. * Me kaygo en el lodo means I fall into mud... in old times, Istanbul used to not have asphalt on the roads, and everywhere was mud... and since you are drunk guess what would happen when you leave the pub... you fall into mud // Yigal Darsa (and this is my father's translation) yigaldarsa@hotmail.com Lyrics heard, and Translated by Joel Stevens (Bitchatchi) joel@junker.org
Translated lyrics
My life, I give for Raki, I cannot leave it, Of drinking, I never tire. I love it so much. When it's in the barrel, it doesn't speak of everything,* When I get all fired up*, I become bathed in mud. //Repeat first verse It did indeed make us divorce our golden wedding. But* I want to go through life, with laughter and with tears. //Repeat first verse I feel like a virile son, I feel like a winner. Even* without Lira* in the drawer, I feel like a millionaire. //Repeat first verse *The message here is that the raki, when in the barrel, hides the secrets of what it will do to the drinker. (drunkenness and other consequences) *I think the word "But" is implied here. *I think the word "Even" is implied here. *Lira = Turkish money. Comes from Latin "Libra" (unit of weight).
Notes
7/20/03 - found the mp3 on kazaa. Sung by Judy Frankel. I could only find pieces of the lyrics on-line. I filled in the rest myself and corrected some spelling according to my dictionary. I am not completely sure about my translation of "El ya mos haze divorsar". If anyone can translate that line better please do. --------------------- Raqui is/was an aniseed based alcholic drink 01/02/03 N.B.: raqui ("raki", "rakiya" is the Arabic- Turkish word for brandy made of grapes, plums or other fruit. Aniseed brandy is called "mastika".
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