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Lyrics
Нету денег ой ой ой
Нету денег боже мой
Кто не платит тот пойдёт
По миру с сумой
Мне пришёл по почте пакет
В нём счета за воду и свет
Посижу полистаю а что ещё делать
Если денег нет
Нету денег ой ой ой
Нету денег боже мой
Кто не платит тот пойдёт
По миру с сумой
Вот хозяин заходит в подъезд
Он кричит что наложит арест
Каждый месяц одно и тоже
Как ему не надоест
Нету денег ой ой ой
Нету денег боже мой
Кто не платит тот пойдёт
По миру с сумой
Сколько могут трубы течь
Поломалась в кухне печь
Пусть хозяин сам заплатит
Чтоб жильцов себе сберечь
Нету денег ой ой ой
Нету денег боже мой
Кто не платит тот пойдёт
По миру с сумой
Behind the song
The song’s story
The rent is due
Dire-gelt means rent, not simply money. The older Yiddish song names a very concrete fear: the landlord arrives, the beds may be taken away, and an eviction notice is threatened. The Mlotek Collection traces its publication to Y. L. Cahan's 1912 collection.
Mlotek Collection
The tenant answers back
The singer asks why rent should be paid when the stove is broken and there is nowhere to cook. Russian expressions enter the Yiddish refrain, including words for the policeman. Humor gives people under pressure a voice, without making their hardship disappear.
Mlotek Collection
Our Russian retelling
Olga Anikina's 2017 adaptation becomes No Money in our catalog. It expands that world of bills and anxious arithmetic in her own words. Elechka's voice and guitar keep the complaint intimate and human. Her Russian text is the source for our English writing invitation.
Our recording & notes
About this recording
Water and electricity bills arrive, but there is no money. When the landlord demands payment again, the tenant answers with leaking pipes and a broken kitchen stove: keeping a home livable is the landlord's responsibility too.
Olga Anikina's 2017 Russian version reworks the Yiddish song Dire Gelt, whose title means rent or rent money. Elechka sings and plays guitar in this recording.
Why we consider this song Jewish or Jewish-themed
For JewishHit, the connection comes through the Yiddish source and its everyday social world. Anikina carries the tenant's complaint into Russian, keeping the refrain's exasperation and the speaker's refusal to be cowed.
We hear humor directed at a difficult situation, not at poverty itself. The wish is concrete: repairs and a home one can live in, rather than a romantic celebration of having nothing.
Credits & source
- Russian words
- Olga Anikina (2017)
- Source song
- Dire Gelt (Yiddish)
- Voice and guitar
- Elechka
- Arrangement
- Elechka
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