The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #89162   Message #1680258
Posted By: Suffet
27-Feb-06 - 10:24 AM
Thread Name: Add: Shonda Susie Goldstein/My Zaydie was a goniff
Subject: Lyr Add: MY ZAYDIE WAS A GONIFF (Stephen L. Suffet
Sure. Why not?

MY ZAYDIE WAS A GONIFF
Music: My Grandpa Was a Carpenter by John Prine
New words: Stephen L. Suffet ©2000, 2006

My Zaydie was late for dinner, nearly every day,
With a bookkeeper named Zelda, he loved to sport and play;
He bought her silks and perfumes, and little golden rings,
And in return she'd do for him, all sorts of unkosher things.

Chorus:
My Zaydie was a goniff, he loved to wheel and deal,
He squeezed the competition, until he heard them squeal;
He was shadier than shady, he really was a louse,
But he left my Bubbie a big mink coat, and a million dollar house.

One day the union delegates, came to talk to him,
They said, "The way you treat your workers, it is a God damn sin!"
So he reached deep in his pockets, and greased their greedy palms,
And from that day his labor pains, were forever gone.

Repeat chorus.

Zaydie had a crooked partner, who moved out to L.A.,
And left him with a load of debts, that he could not pay;
So he dialed up Joe the Torch, and offered him some cash,
Next morning Zaydie's factory, was just a pile of ash.

Repeat chorus.

My Bubbie was a housewife, who thought she was a queen,
Twice a week the maid would come, to scrub and dust and clean;
Bubbie she was tolerant, of Zaydie's love affairs,
If the old goat kept away from her, Bubbie thought "Who cares?"

Repeat chorus.

Translations from the Yiddish:
Zaydie = Grandpa
Bubbie = Grandma
goniff = thief

Another Allan Sherman I may not be, but enjoy the song just the same.

--- Steve