June 10. Story of the Day: I Had a Little Overcoat

Thanks so much to Suniti Namjoshi for telling me about this song! She shared with me this enticing passage from The End of Days by Jenny Erpenbeck (translated from the German by Susan Bernofsky), now I really want to read this book; I had not heard about it before. Here is the reference to the chain-tale song:

… her great-grandmother would have braided her hair, singing a little song about a man who makes a coat out of an old piece of cloth, then when it’s gotten tattered he makes vest out of the coat, then makes a scarf from the tattered vest, a cap from the tattered scarf, a button from the tattered cap, a nothing at all from the button, and in the end he makes this song out of the nothing at all, but by then the braids would have been finished…

It turns out that this a famous Yiddish song, "Hob ikh mir a mantl," in which someone makes their worn-out coat into a jacket, the jacket into a vest, then the vest into a kerchief (a hat, a tie), with the last bit of fabric used to make a button... and when the button is lost, from the nothing that remains there comes a song! I've included the Yiddish lyrics at the bottom of this blog post.

Of the English versions I could find online, my favorite was this one as performed by Alina Celeste, who learned about the song from an illustrated children's book, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Tabak.

I HAD A LITTLE OVERCOAT

I had a little overcoat much too old to sew.
Whatever could I do with it, I just didn't know.
So I thought what I could do
and gave myself a jacket that was almost new.

I had a little jacket much too old to sew.
Whatever could I do with it, I just didn't know.
So I thought what I could do
and gave myself a vest that was almost new.

I had a little vest much too old to sew.
Whatever could I do with it, I just didn't know.
So I thought what I could do
and gave myself a kerchief that was almost new.

I had a little kerchief much too old to sew
Whatever could I do with it, I just didn't know.
So I thought what I could do
and gave myself a button that was almost new.

I had a little button; where ever did it go?
What could I do with nothing? I just didn't know.
So I thought what I could do
and gave myself a song, and I sing it now to you.

Below are the Yiddish lyrics for the traditional folksong, and you can listen to a performance by Bonnie Abrams:

Hob ikh mir a mantl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem mantl a rekl gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem mantl a rekl gemakht.

Hob ikh mir a rekl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem rekl a vestl gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem rekl a vestl gemakht.

Hob ikh mir a vestl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem vestl a shnipsl gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem vestl a shnipsl gemakht.

Hob ikh mir a shnipsl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem shnipsl a knepl gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem shnipsl a knepl gemakht.

Hob ikh mir a knepl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem knepl a gornitl gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem knepl a gornitl gemakht.

Hob ikh mir a gornitl fun fartsaytikn shtof.
Tralalalalalalala.
Hot dos nit in zikh kayn gantsenem shtokh.
Tralalalalalalala.
Darum, hob ikh zikh batrakht.
Un fun dem gornitl a dos lidele gemakht.
Tralalalalalalala.
Fun dem gornitl a dos lidele gemakht.


CHAIN: coat (overcoat) - jacket - vest - kerchief (tie, hat) - button - song