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Lyrics
Elimelekh full of laughter
Wanted music nothing after
He invited fiddlers to his home to play
Took his cap off put his glasses
Shouted boys play loud and fastest
Let the fiddles shake the walls without delay
Fiddlers fiddled fiddlers fiddled
Fiddlers fiddled fiddlers fiddled
And the fiddles squeaked and scraped through all the room
And around both floor and ceiling
All the walls began a reeling
Every corner shook and trembled to the tune
Elimelekh laughed delighted
On a stool he stood excited
Said I have not heard the cymbals for so long
Drunk with joy he changed his outfit
Put on festive shining garment
Quickly sent to bring the cymbal players strong
Cymbal players cymbaled loudly
Cymbal players cymbaled proudly
And the cymbals clashed and rattled through the room
And around both floor and ceiling
All the walls began a reeling
Every corner shook and trembled to the tune
Elimelekh laughed and shouted
With musicians all about it
And the mugs of moonshine poured like rushing stream
To his comrade dear Naftoli
Said my friend lets add more jolly
Go and call the drummers here to join the dream
Drummers drumming loudly pounding
Drummers drumming loudly sounding
And the pots began to crack inside the stove
Fiddles scraping cymbals clashing
Drums were booming rafters crashing
All together made the rafters shake above
Elimelekh groaned and faltered
Ears could not take sound unaltered
So he chased the noisy players from his home
Out you go now clear the table
Do not wake the sleeping neighbors
Let the quarter have its silence in the gloam
But the merry band together
Took the moonshine jug with pleasure
And the music turned much wilder in the night
Through the alleys through the quarter
With the fiddles drums and cymbals
They were playing they were playing till the light
Drummers drumming loudly pounding
Drummers drumming loudly sounding
And the bricks in shaky walls began to sway
Fiddles scraping cymbals clashing
Drums were booming rafters crashing
And they played and played and played till break of day
Behind the song
The song’s story
A ‘folk song’ with an author
A merry rabbi summons his musicians, and the party grows beyond his control. It sounds like a tale handed down for centuries. Yet Der Rebe Elimeylekh is associated with a named Yiddish writer: Moyshe Nadir, an immigrant satirist working in America.
Milken Archive
From satire to celebration
The song's unruly musicians recall Old King Cole. Nadir's version had a sharper satirical edge than many later performances suggest. Over time, singers turned it into an affectionate comic favorite; the rabbi in the song is a character, not a documentary portrait.
Milken Archive · Mlotek Collection
A song that escaped its author
By the 1920s it was circulating in print and in anonymous folk versions. The Mlotek Collection and Milken Archive give different early publication dates. What they agree on is more revealing: an authored song became so familiar that people forgot it had an author.
Mlotek Collection · Milken Archive
Our English party
Walter J. Kin's English version keeps the accumulating band and comic momentum. Fiddles bring cymbals, then drums; even when the rebbe sends everyone home, the musicians carry their celebration into the streets until daylight.
Our recording & notes
About this recording
Elimelekh invites musicians home and keeps adding to the band. Fiddles lead to cymbals, then pounding drums, until the house can barely contain the music.
Walter J. Kin's English version retells the comic Yiddish song Az der Rebbe Elimelekh. When the rebbe finally sends the players away, they take their celebration into the streets and keep playing until daylight.
Why we consider this song Jewish or Jewish-themed
The source is a named song from the Yiddish repertoire, and the English story retains its rebbe, comic buildup and unruly musicians. Its Jewish connection is in the song's inherited world, not only an added label.
We hear the recording as a playful continuation of that repertoire: a story audiences can follow and sing in English while keeping the source in view.
Credits & source
- Source melody
- Az der Rebbe Elimelekh (Yiddish repertoire)
- English words
- Walter J. Kin (RIGLI)
- Arrangement / production
- Walter J. Kin (RIGLI)
- Performance
- Riglis Band
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