Sophie Tucker - My Yiddishe Momme

Of things I should be thankful for I'd had a goodly share

And as I sit here in the comfort of my cosy chair

My fancy takes me to a humble eastside tenement

three flights up in the rear to where my childhood days were spent

It wasn't much like Paradise but amid the dirt and all

There sat the sweetest angel, one that I fondly call

My yiddishe momme I need her more than ever now

My yiddishe momme I'd love to kiss that wrinkled brow

I long to hold her hands once more as in days gone by

and ask her to forgive me for things I did that made her cry

How few were her pleasures, she never cared for fashion's styles

Her jewels and treasures, she found them in her baby's smiles

oh, I know that I owe what I am today

to that dear little lady so old and gray

to that wonderful yiddishe momme of mine

A yiddishe Mamma,

Sie macht doch diese ganze Welt.

A yiddishe Mamma

Oy vey wie bitter ven zie fehlt

Ihr zollt doch danken das

Was ihr hatte ihr noch bei dir

Ihr wejst nit, vie traurig tzvert

Wenn sie geht da weg vun dir.

In vasser und fayer,

Vollt sie geloffn fahr ihr kind,

Nisht halt'n ihr tayer.

Dos iz geviss der greste Zind.

Oy vie gliklach und raych

Is der Mensch vus hut,

Az a sheyne matune geschenkt fun Gott,

Nur an altechke Yiddishe Mamma,

Mamma, oy Mamme mein.

• Artist:Sophie Tucker
• Album:t of the Red Hot Mommas (1925)