Bublitchki


Bublitchki is a diminutive of "bubliki", a very popular baked food. It is widely believed that the making of bibliks started in Smorgon, the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, now Belarus. From there it spread through Poland, across all area with Jewish population, soon reaching Ukraine, where it got its current form.
Bublitchki, which are rather sweet, are made from yeast-leavened wheat dough, milk, butter and egg whites, that has been cooked before baking. In Russia and Ukraine they are usually not treated like bread, but like a type of pastry, as a complement to tea or coffee.
Bubliks are featured by professional bakers, not only in their shops, but also at country fairs and regional markets. Usually they are stung on a string by the dozen and at the beginning of the twentieth century, the vendors sold them with loud voice at the railwaystaions.

The composer of the melody to "Bublitchki" is not known for sure, though some sources do mention Uli Hooves. The author of the lyrics was Yakov Yadov, a Jew from Odessa, Ukraine. Yakov declared that his inspiration for the songtext was a seller of bubliki in his hometown.
 Originally the lyrics were written around 1920 in Russian language. In the same year it was translated to Yiddisch and it became the most popular unofficial song of that period. In 1926 Gregory Krasavin debuted the Russian lyrics of this melody.

The song and melody became so common in the "New Economical Period"-time in Bolsjewik Russia, that later a different Russian text was added.. The lyrics about a drunken father and a whoring mother are also said to be adapted later to an indecent underground parody song.
The song Bublitchki became widespread in the United States in 1939 when the Ziggy Elman Orchestra along with the Barry Sisters started to perform it in theaters.
The lyrics of the song were translated to many languages, such as Spanish, German, French, ...
There is also a short poem called "Propoptala stezhku cherez jar" ( I beat a path through the ravine) in the book Kobzar, by the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko, that refers to a young woman who sells bubliki at the market to the Cossacks. This poem is in no relation to our song though.
Sources:
http://www.songsofmypeople.com/bublitschki.html
http://www.wordaz.com/bublichki.html
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bublitschki
Click here to download the score to Bublitchki
                      Yiddish
Bublichki, 
Koyft mayne beygelekh, 
Heysinke bublichki! 
Nu,  koyft... 
Es kumt bald on di nakht, 
Ikh shtey zikh tif fartrakht, 
Zet, mayn eygelekh 
Zaynen farshvartst. 

Der frost indroysn brent, 
Farfroyrn mayne hent, 
Fun tsores zing ikh  mir 
Mayn troy'rik lid. 

Nu, koyft zhe bublichki, 
Heysinke beygelekh, 
Di letste beygelekh, 
Nu, koyft, bay mir... 
Ikh shtey aleyn in gas, 
Fun regn ver ikh nas, 
Di letste beygelekh. 

Nu, koyft bay mir... 
Di nakht es geyt farbay, 
Der tog rukt on afsnay, 
Ikh shtey in gas un trakht, 
Vos vet dokh zayn? 

Der veytik iz in hoyz, 
Fun hunger gey ikh oys, 
Oy, menchn, hert mayn  lid, 
Fun hunger shvakh... 
Bublichki, beygelekh, 
Koyft mayne  bublichki... 
Koyft!
                    English
Bagels! Hot Bagels! 
Come-and-get my bagels 
Hot bagels, hot rolls 
Buy now ...
It’s almost night now 
Here I stand deep in thought 
See, my eyes how
dark they are! 
 
It’s freezing out here 
My hands are frozen stiff 
This sad song comes out of 
My desperate troubles! 

So! Come-and-get my bagels! 
Hot bagels! Hot rolls! 
My last few bagels 
So! buy, with me... 
Here I do stand alone
wet because of rain, 
The last few bagels. 

So! buy with me ...
The night is passing by,
The day is coming soon
I stay here wet and cold, 
What’s gonna be? 

There’s nothing but pain at home 
I’m so hungry, I’m about to faint 
Dear folks, hear my song 
I’m so hungry I’m about to faint 
Bublichki, bagels,
come and buy my bagels ...
Buy!
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