Rare track: Leonard Cohen sings in heimische Yiddish
Daily Comfort ZoneIn a Vienna arena concert in 1976, Cohen decided to sing in Yiddish, a language almost obliterated by Hitler’s Holocaust.
The song, Und As Der Rebbe Zingt, is a comic ditty on the sycophancy of Chassidic followers, always imitating the Rebbe.
The Viennese seemed to like it.
זייער גוט
“Did you confuse the Messiah in a mirror
And rest because he had finally come?
Let me cry help beside you, Teacher
I have entered under this dark roof
As fearlessly as an honoured son
Enters his father’s house.”
Yiddish is my mother tongue. For me this rendition of der Rebbe Elimelech is about as Yiddish as a pig’s foot.
For anyone here interested in Yiddish, I suggest this link…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oVFYoHxsCA
Sure it is an who said a pig’s foot can’t be [in] Yiddish? It obviously can’t be kosher, lol but I think “chazer fees” says it all…
I was thinking of the phrase :a zoy kusher vi a chazer feesl.
“Der Rebbe Elimelech” and “Un Az der Rebbe Tanzt” are different, completely unrelated songs, other than having the word “Rebbe” in the title amd vaguely similar melodic contours. As a reminder of how “Der Rebbe Elimelech” sounds, here’s a rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUrwiuNqp4U
That’s like saying (l’havdil) that a performance of Handel’s “Messiah” is a poor rendition of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Right you are, and thank you for your interest in Yiddish
Probably one of the most over-rated singers of the last decades.
Miss him.
Vocally & musically ridiculous.
Thank you and a gute voch!
A gut voch. Shag Sameach.
I’m not terribly familiar with him, but I didn’t know Leonard Cohen sang. I thought he was “just” an excellent songwriter whose songs were performed by others. Nice. And thanks for posting. All good…JT