LULLABY - VIGLID

Lyrics: Unknown

Recorded from Lantse Vinakur, survivor of Mohilev-Podilsky ghetto, 1943

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Music: Unknown

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Arrangement: Drew Jurecka and Steve Briggs

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English translation and transliteration: Eli Jany

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The origins of this lullaby about a child whose father is never returning home can be traced all the way back to the French Revolution, and then the Spanish Civil war. A variation of this song was also popular in the Vilna Ghetto (where the father was sent to the gas chambers). Our version addresses violence in Transnistria, with its humiliations, forced labor, and public displays of violence.

English

Yiddish Transliteration

Sleep, my child,

fall peacefully back to sleep.

The ocean roars, the moon shines,

the stars sparkle in the sky;

don’t look at my tears, don’t.

Sleep, my child,

fall peacefully back to sleep.

Your father won’t be back again,

he’s been taken away from us,

dragged through the streets,

for the enemy has put him to death,

we remain, my child, alone.

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Wheels spin in factories,

people die under bridges.

There is where he went,

where groans are the only sounds,

where the snow is covered red with blood.

When slaves are freed,

they will be led to a new harbour,

they will be led to a bright new world.

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So, my child,

fall peacefully back to sleep.

The ocean roars, the moon shines,

the stars sparkle in the sky;

don’t look at my tears, don’t.

Sleep, my child,

fall peacefully back to sleep.

shlof, mayn kind,

shlof ruik vider ayn

es roysht der yam, di levone shaynt,

afn himl glantsn shtern

kuk nisht kuk af mayne trern.

shlof, mayn kind,

shlof ruik vider ayn.

dayn tate vet shoyn mer nisht kumen,

m’hot im fun undz avekgenumen,

af di gasn im geshlept,

vayl di sonim im gekept,

zaynen mir geblibn, kind, aleyn. –

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s’dreyen zikh reder in fabrikn,

mentshn shtarbn unter brikn.

dort ahin iz er gegangen,

vu me hert nor krekhtsn-klangen,

vu der shney iz royt badekt mit blut.

az me vet bafrayen shklafen,

firt men zey tsu a nayem hafn,

firt men zey tsu a heler nayer velt

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drum, mayn kind,

shlof ruik vider ayn.

s’roysht der yam, di levone shaynt,

af dem himl glantsn shtern

kuk nisht kuk af mayne trern

shlof, mayn kind,

shlof ruik vider ayn.

Source Documents & Recordings