The Broken Tongue-Daniel Kahn/the Painted Bird

[00:06.137]Now you who gather joyfully beneath the festive lights [00:10.445]& warm each other soulfully with all of your delight [00:14.937]Take not too much comfort in this song [00:18.804]For what you choose to elevate from what was cast below [00:23.227]Is but the tidal whimsy of the seas you do not know [00:27.519]& may well turn asunder before long [00:31.782]A beauteous sound, a diamond I have found, [00:38.755]A diamond I have found beneath the snow [00:45.713]Buried in the ground, 'neat a ruddy mound [00:52.162]'Neat a ruddy mound where nothing grows [00:57.632]The guests are almost ready for the dancing to begin [01:02.069]They've come to toast the wedding between Zion & Berlin [01:06.294]So raise a glass up to the bride & groom [01:10.659]But don't confuse the Deutsch & Yiddish, nor the night & day [01:14.939]& if a Kaddish sounds like Kiddush, bow your head & pray [01:19.237]We never step upon the glass too soon [01:23.329]A sheyn gesang, an oytser far a klang, [01:30.761]An oytser far a klang, vi fun a khupe [01:38.145]Tsespaltn fun a shverd, [01:41.460]Bagrobn tif in drerd [01:44.487]Bagrobn tif in drerd unter der kupe [02:07.374]So weigh your fortune carefully when prophecy reveals [02:11.678]That decadence & revelry can undermine your zeal [02:15.922]& turn the prophecy upon its ear [02:20.197]For in the dying embers of a century of blood [02:24.493]Is all we must remember to avoid the coming flood [02:28.659]Of prophecies we all refuse to hear [02:49.631]For singing broken melodies to songs in broken tongues [02:53.804]Cannot erase the memory of bells already rung [02:57.932]Nor can it unring the ones we hear [03:01.971]So let the broken birds return upon their painted wings [03:05.899]& let the broken words be burned unto the songs we sing [03:09.828]Till every note is new unto our ears [03:14.542]A beauteous sound, a diamond I have found, [03:22.157]A diamond I have found beneath the snow [03:29.429]Buried in the ground, 'neat a ruddy mound [03:37.212]'Neat a ruddy mound where nothing grows