Saturday Music Post - Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen

"Bei Mir Biz Du Sheyn" was written in 1932 by the renowned Yiddish lyricist Jacob Jacobs and the even more renowned composer Sholom Secunda (who also wrote "Dona Dona," among others). It premiered in the Yiddish musical comedy "I Would If I Could," starring the great Aaron Lebedeff. The Yiddish title was more poignant -- "Men Ken Lebn Nor Men Lozt Nisht," "You Could Live, but They Don't Let You." I have no idea what the plot was, and the show was not a big hit on Second Avenue.

Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin provided English lyrics in 1937, leading to the Andrews Sisters first big hit under the Germanized title "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen."

As the story goes, Secunda first offered the song to Eddie Cantor, who turned it down as "too Jewish." In contrast, the Greek-Norwegian Andrews Sisters first attempted to record it in Yiddish, but couldn't get it right and had to turn mostly to English. To this day, it is probably the most popular mainstream Yiddish-inspired song, though only the title and a single line remain of the original.

"Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" has become a jazz standard, with countless covers. Don't miss the origin story, by Jacob Jacobs's granddaughter, which is at the bottom of the post on The Faculty Lounge.