An Introduction to America’s Music

528 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II

songwriters: Jacob Jacobs and Abraham

Ellstein

date: 1937; recorded 1997

performers: Instrumentation: vocal,

clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, bass,

piano, drums

genre: klezmer

meter: duple

form: aaba chorus with verse

timing section text translation comments

0:00 introduction 4 bars establish “Jewish-

sounding” minor key with

swing rhythm.

0:05 chorus a Oy, s’iz gut!... Oh, it’s good to sit with

your beloved,

Oh, it’s good when your

head is a-spinning,

Oh, it’s good to tell your

girl you love her.

The melody outlines the

minor tonic triad, then quick

notes touch on the raised

fourth scale degree. The fi rst

a section ends with a 2-bar

clarinet break in klezmer style.

0:17 a Oy, si’z gut!... Oh, it’s good, as my

mother used to say,

Oh, it’s good to carry a

secret in your heart,

Oh, it’s good to be the

master of your own

home.

0:28 b Oy, kh’hob

shoyn dem

bestn simen...

Oh, I just knew you

were really fi ne.

Oh, since he came

along he’s become

a part of me.

In the relative major, but

with a fl atted seventh that

resembles a Jewish liturgical

mode.

0:41 a Oy, si’z gut!... Oh, it’s good to hear

words of love,

Oh, it’s good that no

one is here to

interfere,

My heart is beating

at this moment.

Oh, it’s good!

A return of the opening

melody rounds out the 32-bar

aaba chorus.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

• alternation of swing rhythm with parlando
  verse and freylekh bridge in second chorus


• solos in two-bar breaks, as in early jazz, but
  played in klezmer style


• vocal sung in Yiddish


• minor mode and occasional augmented
  second as musical signifi ers of Jewish
  ethnicity

CD 4.12 Listening Guide 21.5 “Oy, s’iz gut” KLEZMER CONSERVATORY BAND

172028_21_514-530_r2_mr.indd 528 23/01/13 11:18 AM