My father was born in 1909. His family was from Byelrus. When I was a little girl, he sang "Vu is dos gesele" in Yiddish and Russian. My transliterations: "Vu is dos gesele, vu is der shtib, vu is dos meydele vemen ich hob lieb, nit taw dos gesele, nit taw der shtib, nit taw dos meydele vemen ich hob lieb."
"Gdyet a ulitzya, gdyet a dom, gdyet a bareshna shtoya lyubov, ot a ulitzya ot a dom, ot a bareshna shtoya lyubov."
His translation as I remember it: "Where is the street, where is the house, where is the little girl I used to love? Gone is the street, gone is the house, gone is the little girl I used to love." He said the song was about a soldier returning home to his village after the war, and the village was completely destroyed. He also said the song was used in a movie made in Europe perhaps sometime in the 1930's.
Two Russian-speakers I spoke to and asked about the song said they didn't really recognize the words I was saying were lyrics from a Russian song. They said it didn't sound like Russian. My "poetic", singable English translation would be, "Where is the house, where is the street, where is the little girl I'd kiss when we'd meet, Gone is the house, gone is the street, gone is the little girl I'd kiss when we'd meet. Several years ago my brother worked as an educational consultant is Kyrgyzstan, and said the first day he was there he came across a street musician singing this song. Jay Black's version is beautiful!