|
 Dali
Tzerni
Laws
of Physics
Mi
Nuera
Won't
you Keep Us
Give
Him a Little Time
Mi
Dimandas
Ferret
Said
Dilmano
Dilbero
Oh
Julie
Sha
Shtil
Kelzsex
Elenke
I'm
Not Hungry
When
Jesus Christ Was
|
|
Aren't my eyes black enough for you? Isn't my face
fair enough for you?
Your eyes are black, but you can keep them.
Your face is fair, but it's flat as a plate.
I don't want it. Keep it for yourself.
—Words: Bulgarian.
—Music: Traditional Bulgarian song from Pirin-Macedonia.
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg & Charming
Hostess
The pink half-moon on the third joint
of my slender finger--
My body fragments are full of bread.
That's why I fear holding bread is why I'm here.
I seem to have lost my hads around here.
And where my eyes were,
now only holes appear
(We're now only holes up here). Look at me up
here! Thank G-d for the laws of physics. Thank G-d for the law.
A skinny skinny boy complains. My body takes up too much room.
This makes me laugh.
I hold myself back. I hold myself back.
I could crush you with my weight, smash your little
body down, throw you through the window pane,
bloody lifeless on the ground. A skinny skinny boy is dead.
—Words: Jewlia Eisenberg
—Music: Jewlia Eisenberg & Charming Hostess
I. "My beautiful daughter-in-law,
embroider the waists of our blouses.
Your peers have already done this,
and you're just lying there sleeping."
"I have no light, nore anyone to give it to me.
My mother-in-law is killing me with screams!"
II. Once there was a priest lying sick in bed.
In the middle of the night, he called to his maid:
"Bring me a pitcher, there's no water."
She went to the fountain and was bitten by a frog.
And in nine months she bore a tiny
child who lacked nothing, not even a cassock.
III. The bride bathes and
her suitors rejoice. What do brides deserve?
I'll tell you: white bred, a bed of roses, a beautiful chicken.
I'm telling you!
—Words: Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
—Music: 3 Traditional Jewish wedding songs from
Morocco
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg & Charming
Hostess
G-d of the nightfall, G-d of the shade.
G-d of the deep
It's you who have made all of the evening,
all of the night, all of the motion without light.
Won't you keep us working, working,
working down below?
—Words: The Resident's
—Music: The Resident's (Published by Pale Pachyderm
BMI)
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg, Charming Hostess
"Did you really mean it?" "I don't say what I
don't mean"
Then she turned her eyes away, she didn't want for him to see her.
Now he starts drinking. "Not again" is what she's thinking.
"Maybe I should leave and wait this coming storm out at my sister's".
Give him a little time. He'll take your time,
he'll take it all, he'll take your lifetime.
Just needs a little work.
He'll take your love, he'll take it all,
now he's your life's work.
Almost out the backdoor--"BITCH!
Where do you think you're going?"
Slaps her face so hard she's seeing stars.
The next blow sets her reeling.
She's pinned to the floor, legs spread,
eyes closed, thinking "Tomorrow will be different,
things are always different then..."
Blackened eye and swelled lip,
bruised thighs, bruised hip--
"Maybe I should leave him--" give him a little time
"Maybe now's the time to--" give him a little time
—Words: Jewlia eisenberg
—Music: Traditional Hungarian song from Transylvania.
Original text includes the line "Nothing could be a greater sorrow
and misery than two people who live together without love."
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming Hostess
My demands are few. I want a house with windows I can leave out of.
I want a bath in my house, and sandals, and my own bath attendant.
—Words: Ladino (Judeo-Spanish)
—Music: Traditional Jewish women's song from Turkey
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg
Ferret said sorry. Ferret said "I've had enough of your shit-eating grin."
She walked out.
She was back the next day, saying "I'm sorry, honey. I'm sorry, so sorry.
Please accept my apology."
Wynn said "Yeah I sleep with other girls, if you can't handle that too
bad, cuz we had such a good thing."
He smiled bright. White bread white.
Wynn said "It's too bad that you can't handle that I sleep with other
girls, if you can't handle that, I'm sorry. It's too bad. I sleep with
other girls, and I'm sorry honey."
Smile, smile, smile, don't smile. Don't smile Ferret,
don't smile Ferret, smile.
I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry.
You can say your sorry til the wind eats up our homes
until the worms destroy our bones and still I'd rather be alone.
Ferret said sorry.
—Words: Jewlia Eisenberg
—Music: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming Hostess
—Original bass line: Stuart Popejoy
A celebration of the growth and harvest of red peppers.
—Words: Bulgarian
—Music: Traditional Bulgarian song which became
the theme song to the Bulgarian equivalent of "The Beverly Hillbillies"
—Vocal Arrangement: Phillipe Koutev
—ReArrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming
Hostess
Oh Julie, oh Lord, gal. Early in the morning baby,
about half past four,
I came to your window, I knocked on your door.
you said
"Get away from my window,
stop knocking on my door.
I got another gal baby, I don't want you no more."
So I said
"Oh yeah Julie? Well, you done got ugly.
Hey now gal, rock that baby.
Uh-oh Julie, you better keep that gal inside.
Cuz when the clock strikes four, baby,
I'm gonna knock on your door."
—Words & Music: Traditional African-American
work song from Alabama
Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming Hostess
Be quiet.
When a man can't dance,
he says the band can't play
Be quiet.
—Words: Yiddish Proverb
—Music: Jewlia Eisenberg
(My greenhorn cousin came to me, beautiful, with cheeks like red oranges,
eyes like red oranges, eyes like heaven in the springtime, and feet that
wanted to dance. As the years passed, she became a ruin. She gathered
paychecks week by week until nothing was left of her.)
Today, when I meet my cousin and I ask her:
"How ya doing, greenhorn?"
She sighs, and I read from her expression:
Columbus's land should burn!"
—Words: Hyman Prizant
—Music: Abe Schwartz and the Rebbe of Lebedik
un Freylekh
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg & Charming
Hostess
Elenke, little Elenke,
beautiful Elenke MEETS
A little beautiful boy.
Oy.
—Words: Bulgarian
—Music: Traditional Bulgarian song PLUS "Fun
Tashlikh" by Abe Schwartz
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming Hostess
When I look into the mirror I see you.
There's a fat girl who spits and stares,
hides behind my chair,
she'll pull out your hair, she will. I'm not hungry,
no I'm not hungry, I have to kill that fat girl.
I'll break her neck, then I'll brush my teeth.
I'm not hungry, I have to kill that fat girl.
I'll throw her up, then I'll brush my teeth.
(This song is for)Those who dided on Cosmo's alter.
—Words: Jewlia Eisenberg
—Music: Traditional Bulgarian song
—Vocal Arrangement: Phillipe Koutev
—ReArrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg and Charming
Hostess
When Jesus Christ was here on earth they said he was a spy.
He healed the sick and raised the dead. Go thou and prophesy.
When passing by a sinful crowd, I heard a woman say:
"If I could but his garment touch I'd never more to die."
—Words & Music: Traditional white
gospel song from Virginia
—Arrangement: Jewlia Eisenberg
|
|
|
