Yiddish Lyrics

Vi shlekht un vi biter siz tsu dinen bay yenemen,
Vi shlekht un vi biter un takish gemeyn.
Es drikt bay di leber, in hartsn a klemenish,
Ir tut dokh lakhn, un ikh nebekh veyn.

Ikh bin fun Zhitomir, kokht oyf dos blit in mir,
kokht es a gantsene vokh.
Mayn tayre mamenyu, zol di madamenyu,
krign a fintstern brokh.

Er zogt er vet mikh nemen un makhn a khasene,
Er zogt er vet mikh nemen, mayn tayrer shats,
Ert onton a tsilender, vi sheyn svet im pasenen,
Un di madamenyu vet ktign di plats!

Translation

How awful and bitter is serving under someone,
how awful and bitter and daily torture,
it stresses the liver and squeezes the heart
others all laugh while I just cry.
I am from Zhitomir,
my blood boils within me
boils and boils the whole week.
Oh my dear mother,
may my mistress meet with an awful end!
A young man tells me,
hell take me and marry me,
he will carry a top hat and be so handsome,
my mistress will just explode from envy.