Nadene Goldfoot
Those were the days! The Andrew Sisters made this Yiddish song very popular and many have sung it before and since then; were not even Jewish, and I woke up the other day thinking and singing this song, which really reaches back way during the time when I was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, not in Brooklyn. Was it telling me something? I hadn't heard that song since long ago, too!
Fun Fact: The Andrews Sisters originally wanted to record the entire track in Yiddish, but their producer strongly objected, insisting they record the English version. The Andrew Sisters were a famous American close harmony singing trio of the swing era. Their names were:
- LaVerne Sophia Andrews (1911–1967) - Contralto
- Maxene Angelyn Andrews (1916–1995) - Soprano
- Patricia "Patty" Marie Andrews (1918–2013) - Mezzo-soprano and lead singer
The Andrews Sisters never recorded the song entirely in Yiddish. Their famous 1937 Decca Records hit "Bei Mir Bistu Shein" uses mostly English lyrics written by Sammy Cahn, but retains the iconic Yiddish phrase "Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn" (meaning "to me, you're beautiful") in the chorus.
"Bei Mir Bistu Shein" (Yiddish: בײַ מיר ביסטו שעהן[a] [baɪ ˈmɪr ˈbɪstʊ ˈʃɛɪn], "To Me You're Beautiful") is a popular Yiddish song written by lyricist Jacob Jacobs and composer Sholom Secunda for a 1932 Yiddish language comedy musical, I Would If I Could (in Yiddish M'Ken Lebn Nor M'Lozt Nit, "You could live, but they don't let you"), which closed after one season at the Parkway Theatre in Brooklyn, New York City. The score for the song transcribed the Yiddish title as "Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn".
The original Yiddish version of the song (in C minor) is a dialogue between two lovers. Five years after its 1932 composition, English lyrics were written for the tune by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, and the English version of the song became a worldwide hit when recorded by The Andrews Sisters under a Germanized spelling of the title, "Bei mir bist du schön", in November 1937.
Saul Chaplin (February 19, 1912 – November 15, 1997) was an American composer and musical director. He was born Saul Kaplan in Brooklyn, New York. He had worked on stage, screen and television since the days of Tin Pan Alley. In film, he won three Oscars for collaborating on the scores and orchestrations of An American in Paris (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and West Side Story (1961). He teamed up with Sammy Cahn in the 1930s to write massive hits like "Until the Real Thing Comes Along" and "Please Be Kind," as well as writing the English lyrics to the famous Andrews Sisters' hit "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön". Hollywood Musicals: Relocating to Hollywood in 1941, he worked on over 60 films, serving as a vocal arranger, musical director, and associate producer on major hits like High Society (1956) and The Sound of Music (1965).
Zemerl is the interactive database of Jewish song and has the song done by composer, Secunda Sholom. I just heard an amazing rendition by Timna Brauer on you tube done 4 years ago under Bay Mir Bistu Shayn, all jazzed up with an amazing piano player with her singing. Austrian vocalist Timna Brauer, along with the Elias Meiri Ensemble, put a unique jazz-infused and world-music spin on the Yiddish classic "Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn". Her version beautifully blends traditional Yiddish elements with modern, improvisational arrangements.
Resource:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPWswDN-1gg Timna Brauer *****
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkEEhy33D3s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvxkomTYkfM The name is, Bay Mir Bistu Shein Andrew Sisters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andrews_Sisters
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