An Introduction to America’s Music

CHAPTER 21 | KLEZMER 529

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

timing section text translation comments

0:54 verse Kinder libe

fargest nit

keyner...

Young love is never

forgotten,

It seeps into your bones,

That’s what my mother

used to say.

She would become so

happy

When she’d talk about

her own wedding.

How the wedding jester

recited so beautifully,

As he exhorted the

bride to cry.

The musicians

serenaded the bride

and groom.

If only I could have

such a wedding.

The verse is taken slowly, in

parlando (speechlike) rhythm.

The stepwise melody includes

“Jewish-sounding” augmented

seconds.

1:47 chorus a Oy, s’iz gut!... Oh, it’s good when the

clarinet plays,

Oh, it’s good when the

fi ddle answers,

The altered chorus now trades

2 bars of singing with 2-bar

breaks for solo instruments in

klezmer style.

1:59 a Oy, s’iz gut!... Oh, it’s good when the

trumpet blasts,

Oh, it’s good when the

roaring bass sounds.

Trumpet and an ensemble

bass line fi ll the last two

breaks.

2:10 b The bridge is played instrumen-

tally in the style of a freylekh.

2:23 a Oy, s’iz gut!... Oh, it’s good to hear

words of love,

Oh, it’s good that no one

will ever break us apart,

This very minute my

heart is pounding

with excitement.

Oh, it’s good!

A return to the swing style for

the fi nal a section, which is

extended into a short coda.

note Translation from liner notes for the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Dancing in the Aisles (Rounder

CD 3155, 1997).

Listen & Refl ect

1. Of the examples of roots music heard in this chapter, this song comes the closest to mainstream
   popular music, though of a self-consciously old-fashioned variety. What does placing “Oy, s’iz
   gut” under the umbrella of “roots music” say about that label, what it means, and how it is used?

172028_21_514-530_r2_mr.indd 529 23/01/13 11:18 AM