The Fire’s Victims

Louis Gilrod

David Meyerowitz

1911

Page with Yiddish and English titles and drawing of fire engulfing building in center.
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Page of sheet music with Yiddish lyrics transliterated into English.
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Sheet music for “Die fire korbones” (The Fire Victims).

Who can witness the great pity
Who can weep for the victims
Of the fire, the hellish flames?
Mothers crying, fathers mourning.
Kaddish for little children. Shame, anguish, and pain.
Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.
Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.
Went to the factory, never coming back
A beautiful, blossoming girl
The mother’s at home. She doesn’t know
What has become of her.
That terrible night, she got the report
Of the terrible fire, the conflagration.
The mother recognizes her daughter burned to death—
From the pain she loses her mind.
“Hurry, wise people,” she cries out, insane,
“Erect a black canopy now!”1
She moans, confused, completely distraught
Drops dead next to her only child.
Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.
Sacrificed by the land of the dollar.

Translated by
Zackary Sholem
Berger
.

Notes

[Erecting a bridal canopy in a graveyard was an Ashkenazic folk custom intended to honor a bride who died shortly before her wedding ceremony. The custom of erecting a black bridal canopy is usually associated with efforts to ward off further tragedy, notably plague and cholera, but here the reference seems to be to the first, mourning-related custom.—Eds.]

Credits

David Meyerowitz (music) and Louis Gilrod (lyrics), from Di fayer korbunes: The Popular Fire Song, arranged by Jack Kammen (New York: Theodor Lohr, 1911).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 7.

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Creator Bio

Louis Gilrod

1879–1930

The composer and lyricist Louis Gilrod was raised in the Vinnytsya-region village of Ulaniv, Russian Empire (now in Ukraine). Gilrod studied in a heder before immigrating to America with his father in 1891. Living with his uncle in Newark after his father returned to the Russian Empire, Gilrod was drawn to the world of New York’s Yiddish theater. He wrote Yiddish lyrics for popular American songs as well as songs for the Yiddish theater, notably “Got un zayn mishpet iz gerekht” (“God and His Judgment Is Correct,” with David Meyerowitz, 1903) for Jacob Adler’s Tsebrokhene hertser (Broken Hearts) and “Yisrulik kum ahaym” (“Yisroel, Come Home,” 1904) for a Boris Thomashefsky performance. Gilrod also acted in and wrote for Yiddish theater and vaudeville. His “Di fayer korbones” (“The Fires’ Victims”) uses the melody Meyerowitz composed for “Bor kara va-yakhperehu” (He Has Dug a Pit and Deepened It, from Psalm 7:16, 1905).

Creator Bio

David Meyerowitz

1867–1943

Born in Dvinsk, Russian Empire (today Daugavpils, Latvia), David Meyerowitz received no formal education and began working in manufacturing early in his life. Immigrating to New York City in 1890, Meyerowitz started his career performing in music halls and cafés, eventually selling his songs to prominent figures of the burgeoning New York Yiddish stage. A vocal supporter of Zionism, Meyerowitz composed several songs around Zionist themes, including a piece commissioned by Boris Thomashefsky. Meyerowitz frequently collaborated with Louis Gilrod and adapted the latter’s “Bor kara va-yakhperehu” (He Has Dug a Pit and Deepened It, Psalms 7:16), which Gilrod wrote with Jacob Kamenetzky (1905).

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