Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)

Subject: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: GUEST,Rachel S.
Date: 05 Oct 22 - 09:27 PM

I just posted a request for the song “Royte Pomerantzen” and here is another request for the Yiddish song “Chernobyl” by Michael Alpert with his band “Brave Old World.”

This song too can be heard on YouTube (and other online sites) but the lyrics are nowhere to be found. In fact someone else posted an open request for them on the Lyrics Translate website several months ago but still no lyrics.

I’m hoping maybe somebody here might know them. Thanks in advance!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIGiiJ9fBao

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 06 Oct 22 - 12:44 AM

Boy, that's a tough one. Usually I can pick out a few phrases and search for the rest, but not this time. All I can figure out is that the repeated phrase is "hoo tza tza," which is a title of another tune. I hope somebody else can come up with it.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: GerryM
Date: 06 Oct 22 - 07:37 AM

The song is Track 2 on the 1990 CD, Klezmer Music. No lyrics are given with the CD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 10 Oct 22 - 09:03 PM

Another direction might be to ask on Klezmer groups?
Try
https://m.facebook.com/kleznorth
Michael Alpert is a tutor there. Maybe he's still got the words somewhere.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Reinhard
Date: 11 Oct 22 - 01:19 AM

The song is Track 2 on the 1990 CD, Klezmer Music. No lyrics are given with the CD.

The LP issue of that album has lyrics on the back side. Unfortunately the scan on Discogs (Brave Old World – Klezmer Music, Fenn Music FMS 1030, 1991) is too small to be readable. But maybe someone has the album?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 11 Oct 22 - 04:12 PM

I've asked on a Facebook group Michael hangs out on.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Pappy Fiddle
Date: 11 Oct 22 - 09:27 PM

Another copy on YT has the lyrics in the comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DkhDpV_1ZU I'll provide here the English translation given by "ItzhakAndresH" 11 years ago, which leaves out the "witz tza tza" at the end of each line. Google Translate sez this is Russian... or Yiddish... or Krio... but doesn't give any meaning for any of these. Feeding it the English and asking for Yiddish yields what looks like what the singer is pronouncing but Google's phonetic attempt is much different.

One way to get information, like on Facebook, is to post something clearly wrong and someone will get all indignant and post the right info you're wanting.

1. A maysele fun okh un vey
Pasirt in land fun KGB
Dort in mitn Ukraine
Rut zikh sheyn nit mer di Shkhine

A tale of grief and woe
Came to pass in the land of the KGB
There, in the middle of the Ukraine
The Divine Spirit no longer rests

Zogn zog ikh aykh dem pshat
Az in Chernobyl baym Pripat
Darf di Shkhine mer nit rien
Fun zikh aleyn tut alts sheyn glien

I'll give you the lowdown
In Chernobyl by the Pripyat River
The Divine Spirit need no longer glow
Everything is already glowing by itself

2. Energye, oy, s'iz a prakht!
Nor a toyesl hot men gemakht
Dort in land fun Rus dem shtoltsn
Hot me di velt shier nit farshmoltsn

Energy, oh, it's great
But someone made a little mistake
There, in the proud land of the Russ
They almost melted down the world

Alts in ordnung, karasho!
Hot gesagt Politbyuro
Nor baym rekhtn un baym linkn
Hot men moyre milskh tsu trinkn

Everything's fine, under control
Said the Politburo
But on both right and left
Everyone's afraid to drink the milk

3. Zint der tsimes fun Pripyat
Di gantse velt hot faynt salat
Fun Kamtshatke biz Kanade
Trinken darf men limonade

And since the mess on the Pripyat
The whole world's hate salad
From Kamchatka to Canada
Everybody has to drink soda

To vos hob ikh tsu yenem ort?
S'iz yidn flegn voynen dort
Itstert, af di keyver oves
Es tantst a nayer malkhamoves

So what does that place have to do with me?
It's Jews who used to live there
Today, on our ancestor's graves
A new Angel of Death is dancing

4. Meynt nit, az dos ken gesheyn
In yenem vaytn land aleyn
Tsi in Kiev, tsi Detroit
Khapn vest dem zelbn toyt.

Don't think it can only happen
In that far-off land
Be it Kiev or Detroit
Death will catch up with you all the same

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Oct 22 - 11:39 PM

Hurray!!!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: GUEST,Rachel S.
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 01:17 PM

Thank you guys so much for these lyrics. I have literally been looking for this song my whole adult life!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Oct 22 - 11:41 PM

I have trouble reading Yiddish, even in transliterated form. But if I read it out loud, I hear it in German and can understand it right away.
There's a lot of great humor in Yiddish songs. I especially liked the creativity of the first verse:

1. A maysele fun okh un vey
Pasirt in land fun KGB
Dort in mitn Ukraine
Rut zikh sheyn nit mer di Shkhine

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Chernobyl (Michael Alpert)
From: Pappy Fiddle
Date: 22 Oct 22 - 02:10 PM

There are probably a lot of songs about Chernobyl. I'll post the lyrics from another below, since if people don't like something they can just scroll on down. I think the reason this subject is fertile for songwriting is because it's so emotionally terrible. I grew up in L.A. in the 60's and the Cuban missile crisis was upon us. And the Soviets were brandishing their nukes for 3 decades. It kind of poisoned my soul and stunted my growth. So anything related to nukes always gives me cruddy feelings. So when the Chernobyl disaster came on the news I was well fascinated. I didn't become a Goth tho. Just remember, when life runs over your puppy, now you have material for a blues song.

The cleanup crews had nicknames for the various areas at Chernobyl. "Masha" was the most deadly radioactive zone right around the destroyed reactor. 3828 is somebody's count of the number of men that died from radiation sickness; the total is much more over years.

Chernobyl 3828
Smog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrYae6pARA

The look on their faces says it all
As they're dressed up, to face their call
A date with Masha, her invisible spell
Lambs to the slaughter, go to war in Hell
Unlike any war fought before
This enemy has neither face nor smell
Desperately brave Men line Masha's wall
Lead overcoats, death in their throats.

Face the Masha, Face the Masha!

The joke's on the Joker that failed oh so well
Monstrous radiation - Masha's spell
The order is given, prepare the Bio-Robots
No machines will perform in these hot spots
We speak of Masha only in reverent whisper
Accumulator - the calculator of life
Radiation - dangerous and insidious
Affects the psyche of the bravest Men
Samoylenko, our commander
Weight of the world and times it by Ten
2 Minute shift - Graphite resolution
Using his Men is the only solution

Chernobyl 3828 - liquidation of Hell
High price to pay, there is no other way
Send in the Men, send them straight to Hell!

Masha, Masha, you're under her spell
Masha, Masha, time will tell

The look on their faces says it all
As they're dressed up, to face their call
A date with Masha, her invisible spell
Lambs to the slaughter, go to war in Hell
Unlike any war fought before
This enemy has neither face nor smell
Desperately brave Men line Masha's wall
Lead overcoats, death in their throats.

Face the Masha, Face the Masha!

The decision was made to send the Men
To the zones of mortal danger
Tarakanov, he drilled many men
He did so in person, he knew what faced them
Unthinkable background radiation
Just 20 Meters from corrupted reactor
With every spade full, for every Man
We reduce the radiation
For many Men, it's all too much
Stricken reactor reduces them to chaos
They cannot help this, for every Man
Has his own tolerance to radiation

Pathologic secrecy, how many men have died?
Radiation in the skies spreading Europe; Europe wide!
The legacy of Masha lives on
But you could have told your people the truth
Place a dagger in front of a man's heart you blind him, you blind him!
For some the truth will never be known
Stricken down with hideous cancer
For generations to come; birth defects
No go zone