Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute

Subject: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Suffet
Date: 04 Jan 05 - 10:50 PM

THE OLD KLEZMER FLUTE
Tune: THE OLD ORANGE FLUTE (traditional)
New words: Stephen L. Suffet © 2005

In a borough called Brooklyn, in the town of New York,
In a neighborhood where no one ever eats pork,
Chaim Leibowitz lived, his momma's own joy,
And each of us thought him a nice Jewish boy.

At bar mitzvahs and weddings whenever they'd come,
He played his old flute to the roll of the drum,
You may talk of your trumpet, your trombone, or lute,
But none could compare with his old klezmer flute.

But Chaim the deceiver he took us all in,
And married an Arab name Aziza Adin,
Turned Muslim himself and forsook the old cause,
That gave us our Torah, religion, and laws.

Oy, the men of the minyan all said, "What a shonda!"
So somewhere near Court Street, poor Chaim had to wander,
He went with his wife and his fixings to boot,
And along with the latter, his old klezmer flute.

Five times a day to atone for past deeds,
He rolled out his prayer rug and got down on his knees,
'Til one holy day at the imam's desire,
He took his old flute for to play in the choir.

He took his old flute for to play at the mosque,
But the instrument quivered, it reeled and it rocked,
And try as he might, though this seems quite insane,
The flute would play only Bei Mir Bist Du Shayn.

Chaim he turned red in the face like cheap rouge,
And covered his flute with baba ghanouj,
But when he tried to play it again,
The flute still played only Bei Mir Bist Du Shayn.

And for all he would try to finger and blow,
To play Arab music it just didn't know,
Hava Nagilah it freely would sound,
But one Arab note just couldn't be found.

At the council of mullahs that was held the next day,
They decided to banish the old flute away,
They couldn't knock Yiddishkeit out of its head,
So they bought Chaim a new one to play in its stead.

The fatwa was said, the sentence it fell,
The flute was condemned as a damned infidel,
As the scimitar was splitting the old flute in twain,
You could hear it still playing Bei Mir Bist Du Shayn.

Toora loo, toora lay, it's six miles from Court Street down to Sheepshead Bay!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 02:18 AM

Oy, such a song, it's so perfect I could plotz!

I love it!

Are you familiar with Greenberg's? (he modestly asks...)

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 02:44 AM

shonda germ. Schande = shame

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Suffet
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 06:01 AM

Mark,

I just took a look at Greenberg's. It's wonderful. But how in Hawaii do you know of such things? :-)

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 05 Jan 05 - 10:07 AM

Mit a name like Cohen you ask him such a qvestion? Oy vey!
Giok ;~)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: georgeward
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 01:13 AM

" cheap rouge", "baba ghanouj" !!

Steven, you have made my day.

Wonderful song (on several levels).

- George

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 01:39 AM

I'm a Philly boy, Steve...just hanging out here in Hawaii for the last 10 years.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Seamus Kennedy
Date: 06 Jan 05 - 03:35 PM

Steve - just brilliant.
L'chaim! (Hope I got that right)

Seamus

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 07 Jan 05 - 12:45 PM

Excellent. I love the way you preserved the balance of bigotries in the original.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Suffet
Date: 07 Jan 05 - 03:20 PM

Wilfried, danke schoen for the etymology lesson.

George, I've been waiting a couple of years to make your day. Your compliment is an honor indeed. I'll try to make it to Folk Music Week at Pinewoods Camp this year. Last year I was sick, and in any event Marilyn couldn't get that week off from work. Anyway, I'm sure we'll run into each other somewhere.

Mark, Philly, huh? Any chance you know Debbie Yeager, formerly of the Philadelphia Folksong Society? She seems to have dropped off the radar screen 10 or 12 years ago. I've heard of occasional sightings, but no one has been able to provide me with an address (postal or e-mail) or a phone number. The Deborah Yeager in Phialdelphia one finds by doing a Google search is a different person. My Debbie is short, has (or had) red hair, and walks with braces.

Seamus, yes, you got l'chaim right. Sláinte! Did I get that right?

McGrath, I'm just doing my job. :-)

Everyone, thanks.

--- Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 07 Jan 05 - 04:30 PM

So, sometimes I ask myself if Life isn't too MUCH fun. Thanks Steve, and Mark Cohen, too.         Tw

p.s. "L'Chaim" is never wrong.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Old Klezmer Flute
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 07 Jan 05 - 11:51 PM

Steve, I left Philly in 1982. I was never part of the PFS (though I did have an account at PSFS). I did my residency at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) from 1977-80 and lived in Swarthmore from 1980-82, and even though I grew up in the city it was only during those last few years that I began to have an interest in folk music. (Well, actually, that's not strictly accurate: I started going to the Main Point in 1969.) Sorry, that name and description don't ring any bells.

Aloha,
Mark