Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou

29 Aug 11 - 11:14 AM (#3214529)
Subject: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: GUEST,smensemble

Does anyone have the lyrics for Misirlou in Ladino? I think there is a recording by Los Pajaros Sefardis that has a version of the song in Ladino. Thanks for whatever information you can give me..

---

29 Aug 11 - 11:58 AM (#3214560)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Bonnie Shaljean

I seem to remember having seen this song on a record label as being spelled "Miserlou" (did the Everly Brothers record it in the good ole days?) so you might have better luck googling it with that spelling. Just a thought -

---

29 Aug 11 - 01:18 PM (#3214608)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Some information in this thread: Lyr. Reg. Miserlou, 23203.

Miserlou

There are many links at top of this thread. We came up with Greek and Hebrew, and I have a recording in Ladino that I got from a site that has disappeared, but words not decipherable to my ears.
Check recordings by kantikas.

---

29 Aug 11 - 01:25 PM (#3214611)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Try the Site, "Folk Literature of the Sephardic Jews." Something may have been added since I last looked. A couple of translations from N. African sources, may be others. Not the easiest site to peruse.

http://www.sephardifolklit.org/flsj

---

29 Aug 11 - 05:00 PM (#3214739)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Are they those?

No pretendas mas que
Ni te sforses a vartir lagrimas
Yo ya lo supe que era por enganyar
Este es un fakto que no puedes niegar

Ah... ahh... Missirlu
Es muy amargo, ah es muy amargo el sufrir.
Ma no por este uno deve murir.

Muchos anios te speri en vanedad
Creendo ke tu amor es verdad
Me amurcates propio con una flor
y me forsates a bivir con dolor

Ah... ahh... Missirlu
Es muy amargo, ah es muy amargo el sufrir
Ma no por este uno deve murir.
Algun dia sufrira tu korason
I konoseras lo que es la trahision
como yo yoro y tu yoraras,
Y konseulo nunca toparas

Copied from Wiki

---

29 Aug 11 - 05:13 PM (#3214745)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

You have them here too, with an English translation.

---

29 Aug 11 - 06:02 PM (#3214775)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Many would place the origin as Greek, but the melody (not that of the popular song) is middle eastern to my ear, and I believe it spread from there to other cultures bordering on the Mediterranean.

I have absolutely no supporting evidence, so I don't expect anyone to agree.

Some of the lyrics you quote seem similar, but I can't catch much understandable from my recording.

Monique, I will try to copy the song as I have it on a cd that I made. I will look for a friend with a cd duplicator (I have been tempted to get one myself, Hammacher S. has one in their catalogue)

The Sephardic site I gave the url for has changed hands as far as management is concerned (a university is mentioned) and I think it has been trimmed down.

---

30 Aug 11 - 12:43 AM (#3214960)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Genie

I'm delighted to have the lyrics to the Ladino version, but would someone please explain to me how the first line, "No pretendas mas que," scans with the melodic phrase for that line, which seems to call for at least 3 more syllables?    I mean, do you stretch "pretendas" out over 5 notes or "mas" over 3 notes?

If anyone has a link to an audio of the Ladino version, I would love to hear it.

Genie

---

30 Aug 11 - 12:49 AM (#3214961)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Genie

OK, in the video at the link that you posted, Monique, the singers are singing "No pretendas mas que tu (something something)" as the first line.
Anyone have the full first line in Ladino?

Genie

---

30 Aug 11 - 01:00 AM (#3214964)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: GUEST,999 ????

MI BUEN AMOR


Hay amores que se esfuman con los años
Hay amores que su llama sigue viva
Los inciertos que son rosa y son espina
Y hay amores de los buenos come tú?
Hay amores que se siembran y florecen
Hay amores que terminan en sequía
Los que traen desengaños en la vida
Y hay amores de los buenos como tú?

Mi amor, mi buen amor, mi delirio
No prentendas que te olvide así? no más
Que tu amor fue mar cuando sedienta
Me arrime a tu puerto a descansar
Que tu amor, amor solo el que un día
En tu pecho vida mía, me dio la felicidad
Hay amores que nos llevan al abismo
Hay amores que jamás se nos olvidan
Los que dan toda ternura y fantasía

Son amores de los buenos como tú?
Mi amor, mi buen amor, mi delirio
No pretendas que sea poco mi penar
Que tu amor fue luz de pleno día
Cuando todo era oscuridad
Que tu amor, amor solo el que un dia
En tu pecho, vida mía... me dio la felicidad ...

---

30 Aug 11 - 02:39 AM (#3214979)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Genie

Here is a Sephardic klezmer version of "Miserlou" which has different lyrics than the ones posted above. Maybe someone can transcribe?

---

30 Aug 11 - 03:25 AM (#3214990)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Genie, they say "No pretendas mas que tu me amas".
Btw, there's a mistake/typo in the last line of the chorus, it's "Ma no por esto uno deve morir". I also suspect that in the last line, it's "konsuelo" (comfort, consolation), not "konseulo". This Wiki article about the language is very interesting and gives some clues about the pronunciation of "s/c". There are some mistakes in the translation too. Here is what I came to from the translation given at the link above:

Don't pretend anymore that you love me
Nor force yourself to shed tears either
I already knew that it was cheating
This is a fact that you can't deny

Ah... ahh... Misirlou
It's very bitter, ah, suffering is very bitter
But one should not die for this.

Many years I waited for you in vain
Believing that your love is true
You hit me right/just with a flower
And you forced me to live with pain

ah Misirlou
It's very bitter, ah suffering is very bitter.
But one should not die for this

Some day your heart will suffer
And you'll know what betrayal is
As I cry (and) you will cry
And you will never find comfort/consolation

and the Ladino lyrics

No pretendas mas que tu me amas
Ni te sforses a vartir lagrimas
Yo ya lo supe que era por enganyar
Este es un fakto que no puedes niegar

Ah... ahh... Missirlu
Es muy amargo, ah es muy amargo el sufrir.
Ma no por esto uno deve murir.

Muchos anyos te speri en vanedad
Kreendo ke tu amor es verdad
Me amurcates propio con una flor
Y me forsates a bivir con dolor

Ah... ahh... Missirlu
Es muy amargo, ah es muy amargo el sufrir
Ma no por esto uno deve murir.

Algun dia sufrira tu korason
I konoseras lo que es la trahision
Como yo yoro y tu yoraras,
Y konsuelo nunca toparas


"Misr" is the Arabic word for Egypt, it comes from Mizraim and has nothing to do with "Muslim" even it both words beging with "M"!

---

30 Aug 11 - 03:37 AM (#3214994)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Oops! I forgot to mention that in the 2nd verse "te speri"... in Spanish "esperar" means "to wait for", "to expect","to hope"... -after all, when you're waiting for someone/something, you're just hoping/expecting that they come/arrive asap.

---

30 Aug 11 - 05:31 AM (#3215041)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Oops again, "both words begin..." two posts above

---

30 Aug 11 - 10:04 AM (#3215126)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: GUEST,smensemble

Monique thanks a lot for the lyrics!! I just tried the melody to them, and it's beautiful! I will be singing it like that this coming sunday on a Jewish Music Fest in Miami, where I live... Could you tell me where you got them? Are those the ones that the Pajaros Sefardis sing?
Thanks to all that have answered my initial request. I had already checked some of the sources you have mentioned, actually I also tried to decipher the words from the recording of the song by Pajaros Sefardis (in itunes) but could not.
Thanks again..

---

30 Aug 11 - 10:18 AM (#3215133)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: GUEST

Gennie, the Yidish lyrics were written by Miriam Kressyn in 1943.. I found this information at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misirlou and I just realized that the Ladino lyrics are there!! I read the article yesterday but I guess I did not scroll down enough to find all the lyrics...well, this served to acquaintance myself with mudcat and you guys..thanks again.

---

30 Aug 11 - 10:40 AM (#3215146)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Guest smensemble, I linked to the pages I found the lyrics on. I never heard of the Pájaros Sefardíes before, but I've just read they're Turkish and led by a lady called Karen Gerson (Cf. page 9 of this pdf doc). Is it the same group?

---

30 Aug 11 - 02:21 PM (#3215320)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

The cd is called "Kantikas para syempre," the group Los Pasharos Sefaradis, Miserlu on track 11. These spellings are those on the cd. Amazon translates the subtitle as "Old songs which our grandmothers used to sing 500 years ago."

This seems to be the source of the recording I made of the track some years ago, as the timing (2'50") is close.
I can't locate a copy, but this center may help:

Discussion at the Sephardic Center website-
"Los Pasharos Sefardais constitute a milestone in the revival of the Turkish Sephardic culture by seriously researching and studying a language and the secular music of their ancestors since 1978. Contrary to other interpreters of Sephardic music in the western world, they give great importance to the lyrics of the songs and take great care to enunciat each word clearly and sing in as authentic a manner as possible, the way their grandmothers used to, with the oriental technique of both singing and acting every song....."
The group has released 5 albums of Judeo-Spanish songs.

http://sephardiccenter.wordpress.com/music-2/los-pashar
os-sefaradis

---

30 Aug 11 - 07:09 PM (#3215523)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

I found another link with the same video as in my 5:13PM post. It reads:

"Misirlou" Kantika mediterranea Los Pasaros Sefaradis

No pretendas mas ke tu me amas
Ni te 'sforces a vertir lagrimas
Yo ya lo supe ke era por enganyar
Esto es un fakto ke no puedes nyegar.
Ah...Misirlou es muy amargo,
ah es muy amargo el sufrir
ma no por esto uno deve murir
.
Muchos anyos t' esperi en vanedad
Kreyendo ke tu amor era verdad
me amurchates propyo kom' una flor (1)
i me forsates a bibir kon dolor
Ah...ah Misirlou es muy amargo,
ah es muy amargo el sufrir
ma no por esto uno deve morir.

Algun diya sufrira tu korazon
i konoseras lo ke es la trahisyon
komo yo yoro ansi tu yoraras (2)
i konsuelo nunkua no toparas.
Ah...ah Misirlou.....

(1) = you withered me just like a flower
(2)= As I cry (today) you will cry (one day)

---

30 Aug 11 - 07:59 PM (#3215556)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Monique

Correct me if I'm wrong but the recording at the link Q gave at the end of his last post is the very same as the one in the YouTube video on the site I linked to and corresponds to the lyrics above minus the last verse which is missing in the recording.

---

30 Aug 11 - 07:59 PM (#3215558)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

If anyone is interested, the cd is available from:
Arovana Müzik
talatpasa caddesi No. 84
Gültepe
Istanbul, Istanbul 34410 Turkey

---

31 Aug 11 - 12:00 AM (#3215674)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: GUEST,smensemble

Thanks for the links Monique. Yes, it is the same group.
Also thanks to Q for the links..
Genie in the 'Sephardic Klezmer version of Miserlou' that you mention, although the narrator is speaking spanish when he sings, he does it in Yidish. Those are the lyrics written by Miriam Kressyn.

---

31 Aug 11 - 11:35 PM (#3216321)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ladino lyrics for Misirlou
From: Genie

Ah, that's part of why I was having trouble understanding him. I was 'hearing' the Yiddish words as "Ladino" (which I'm guessing he was speaking, since it's a sephardic group), and it sounded like mush.   (It really didn't sound like Yiddish to me either.)

---

01 Sep 11 - 02:35 AM (#3216351)
Subject: Chords for Misirlou
From: Genie

FWIW, I've found some arrangements that use simpler chords, e.g.:
Misirlou in G, at Wikifonia.

You may want to embellish by adding a chord or two or just play melody in places, but this seems to work pretty well for me.

And, BTW, Wikifonia lets you transpose the sheet music to any key you want and then download the sheet music.


Genie

---