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BSeed Origins/lyrics: Hey Zhankoye (26) Lyr/Chords Add: HEY, ZHANKOYE! (from Pete Seeger) 17 Nov 98


I used to have a Limelighters recording of the song with two verses in Yiddish, two in English, and I just found in Oak Puplications' The People's Song Book Pete Seeger's version (I had started to try to post it from memory). Here are the verses, alternating the original Yiddish and Seeger's English translations:

HEY, ZHANKOYE!

Az men fort kine Sevastopol
Iz nit veit fun Simfereopol
Dortn iz a stantziye faran
Ver darf zuchen niye glikken
S'iz a stantziye an antikel
In Zhankoye, Dzahn, dzahn, dzahn

Hey Zhan, Hey Zhankoye,
Hey Zhanvili, hey Zhankoye,
Hey Zhankoye, dzahn, dzahn, dzahn

When you go from Sevastopol
On the way to Simferopol,
Just you go a little farther down.
There's a little railroad depot
Known quite well by all the people,
Called Zhankoye, Dzahn, dzahn, dzahn.
Hey Zhan...

Enfert Yidden of mine Kashe
Vi'z mine brider, vi'z Abrashe
S'gayt ba im der traktor vi a bahn.
Di mime Laye ba der kosilke
Bayle ba der molotilke
In Zhankoye, dzahn, dzahn, dzahn...

Now if you look for paradise
You'll see it there before your eyes.
Stop your search and go no farther on.
There we have a collective farm
All run by husky Jewish arms
At Zhankoye, dzahn, dzahn, dzahn.

Ver zogt as Yidden kenen nor handlen,
Essen fette yoich mit mandlen
Nor nit zine kine arbetsman?
Doss kenen zogen nor di sonim
Yidden, shpite zay on in ponim!
Tit a kik of dzahn, dzahn, dzahn...

Aunt Natasha drives the tractor
Grandma runs the cream extractor
While we work we all can sing our songs.
Who says that Jews cannot be farmers?
Spit in his eye, who would so harm us.
Tell him of Zhankoye, dzahn, dzahn.

One other verse, by Edith Allaire:

Work together, all as brothers,
Jew and Gentile, White and Negro,
For that better world to come.
All must work, for work is good,
In work may man find brotherhood,
As in Zhankoye, dzahn, dzahn, dzahn...

Source: The People's Song Book (Waldemar Hille, 1948, page 46)


A note on my harmonic entry style: Chords in parentheses: (Em) or slashes: / indicate measures. Chords in brackets occur within measures, at the third beat. Periods indicate quarter note pauses.

The song is in 4/4 time, rather percussive, one quarter note per syllable, except for the dzhans and the Hey Zhans which are half notes.

--seed


(Em)Az men fort kine /Se-vas-to-pol
(A)Iz nit [Am]veit fun (Em)Sim-fere-o-pol
(Am)Dor-in [Em]iz a (Am)stan-tzi-ye fa- ran
(Em)Ver darf zu-chen /ni-ye glik-ken
(A)S'iz a [Am]Stan-tziye (Em)an an-ti-kel
(Am)In Zhan-[Em]ko-ye,) (Am)Dzahn, [B7]dzahn, (Am)dzahn . . / . . . .
(Am)Hey Zhan, (D7)Hey Zhan-ko-ye,
(Em)Hey Zhan-vi-li, (Bm)hey Zhan-ko-ye,
(Em)Hey Zhan-ko-ye, (Am)dzahn, [B7]dzahn, (Em)dzahn[C] . . (D) . . [Bm] . .


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