Here is a Yiddish version I found at Zemerl. I couldn't find any background information. It's not in my usual Yiddish songbooks.
-Joe Offer-

MISERLOU

Vayt in dem midbar,
Fun heyser zin farbrent,
Hob ikh amol a meydele dort gekent.
Miserlou heyst zi,
Yeder dort veyst zi gut,
Kh'vel di printsesn mer shoyn fargesn nit.

Shtil, ovent kil,
Un ikh fil az ikh vil mayn gefil
Far ir oysgisn un zi zol visn nor,
Az nor zi lib ikh,
Mayn lebn gib ikh ir, yo.

Her, s'iz mir shver,
Mit a trer zog ikh dir un ikh shver.
Midber printsesn, kh'ken nit fargesn dikh
Kum heyl mayn benkshaft,
nor di kenst heyln mikh.

Miserlou mayne, meydle fun orient,
Di oygn dayne hobn mayn harts farbrent.
Mayn harts vert a kranke,
in khyulem ze ikh dikh,
Tants far mir shlanke
Drey zikh geshvind gikh.

Midber printsesn, kh'ken nit fargesn dikh
Kum heyl mayn benkshaft,
nor di kenst heyln mikh.
Mayn mizrakh blum, Miserlou


Far off in the desert,
Bronzed by the hot sun
I once knew a girl.
Her name is Miserlou;
Everyone there knows her well.
I will never forget that beautiful princess.

It's quiet, the evening cools,
And I want to pour out my feelings
So that she knows I love her only.
If only she would love me,
I would give my life to her.

Oh alas, it is hard for me,
Oh, how can I say it, tearfully I swear to you:
Desert princess, I can't forget you,
Come heal my longing,
Only you can heal me.

My Miserlou, girl from the Orient,
The look in your eyes has scorched my heart.
My heart is ailing,
I see you in my dreams,
Dance for me, oh lovely one,
Spin round and round!

Desert princess, I can't forget you,
Come heal my longing,
Only you can heal me.
My eastern bloom, Miserlou.

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This page attributes the Yiddish lyrics to Miriam Kressyn. See this site for information about Kressyn and her husband Seymour Rexite, "the Yiddish Crooner":

At the height of his popularity in the 1940s and '50s, Yiddish crooning sensation Seymour Rexite starred on 18 half-hour radio shows a week. At its outset his career comprised an all-Jewish repertoire that spanned from liturgical song to Yiddish popular music. But when he took to the Yiddish airwaves, the bill of fare diversified. Whatever song happened to be popular on American radio, his wife, Miriam Kressyn, translated into Yiddish and Rexite sang on one of his shows. He feared nothing, sang everything, and stayed on the air for the better part of five decades.