The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #26508   Message #3020123
Posted By: GUEST,Lloyd S.
31-Oct-10 - 02:14 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen
The Yiddish lyrics posted here are not quite correct. The second verse goes:

Bei mir bistu gut
Bei mir hostu "it"
Bei mir bistu teurer vun gelt

To me, you're good
To me, you have it
To me, you're more precious than money

To "have it" was a phrase used in the twenties to say someone had that certain something, je ne sais quoi, sex appeal. It was most famously applied to Clara Beau, the "It Girl." Having the expression in a Yiddish theater song was not as incongruous as it may seem, because English slang had certainly penetrated Yiddish in the New York of the day (just read the Joys of Yiddish - Leo Rosten covers the phenomenon well).

Also, although the lyrics are usually transliterated with "U" in a lot of places, the versions I've heard pronounce them as a short "I" or long "E." Thus "gut" rhymes with "it." "Bistu" comes out "Bistea" and "Hostu" as "Hostea." I don't know why, but if I recall correctly, that follows the official YIVO transliteration rules.