Jewish Immigration to America

Title

Di grine kuzine (The Greenhorn Cousin)

Date

February 1922

Subject

Yiddish Theater Music
Immigrants, American Jewish

Description

Abraham Moskowitz with unknown clarinetist, Abe Schwartz, violin and Sylvia Schwartz, piano
Columbia E7553 mx. 88738-5; Recorded in NY
Yiddish theater song that became one of the best-known songs satirizing the difficulties of the Jewish immigrant experience in New York:

My cousin came to me here
As beautiful as gold she was, the greenhorn
With cheeks like red oranges
And feet just begging to dance.

She skipped instead of walking;
she sang instead of speaking.
Happy and merry was her demeanor.
That's the way my cousin was.

I went in to my "next-doorke"
Who had a millinery "storke"
And got job for my cousin--
Long live the golden land!

Years have passed since then.
My cousin has become a wreck
Many "paydays" have gone by
And there is nothing left of what she was.

Under her beautiful blue eyes
Black bags have drawn a line
Her cheeks, the red oranges
Have "greened out" entirely.

These days, when I meet my cousin
And I ask her, "How are you, Greenhorn?"
She answers me with a crooked smile:
"May Columbus's land burn to the ground!"



Creator

Prizant , Hyman
Schwartz, Abe

Source

Max and Frieda Weinstein Archive of YIVO Sound Recordings

Publisher

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Format

MP3

Language

Yiddish

Type

Vinyl Recording

Identifier

YIVO Sound Recordings - 1

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Citation

Prizant , Hyman and Schwartz, Abe, “Di grine kuzine (The Greenhorn Cousin),” YIVO Online Exhibitions, accessed December 30, 2024, https://exhibitions.yivo.org/items/show/6338.
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