If ever there was a Yiddish song that proved the Jewish people were
influenced by Ukranian folk songs, this must be it. The theme is
characteristic of folk songs: "My youth has fled. Oy vey. And I didn't
even carpe diem!" The melody is so typical of Eastern European folk
songs, that it's almost strange to hear it sung in Yiddish. You'd expect
it to be sung by three lovely young Ukranian peasant girls, dressed in
beautiful white dresses embroidered with red, blue and yellow patterns,
smiling brightly, and singing in perfect harmony with nasal voices
(apparently, singing through the nose helped project the sound farther
out to the wedding guests in the days preceding amplifiers and
microphones). Anyway, here it is, with my best attempt at a nasal
folksinger's voice.
