Tzena, Tzena,Tzena

"Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" is often called an Israeli folk song, but in fact it was written in 1941 by Issachar Miron (music) and Yechiel Chagges (lyrics) during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine. It was popular among kibbutzniks and other young Israelis both before and after independence. The song was later heard by the American orchestra leader Gordon Jenkins who produced a pop arrangement, with peppy English lyrics by Mitchell Parrish, featuring The Weavers. The result was a two-sided hit in 1950, with "Tzena, Tzena" reaching #2 and "Goodnight Irene" reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

As you can tell from the Weavers' introduction, the American left strongly supported Israel in the early 1950s. Don't miss the Pete Seeger interview at the bottom of this post.

Israeli Independence Day -- Yom Ha'atzmaut in Hebrew -- begins one week from Tuesday at sundown.

(Also, today is the 245th anniversary of Paul Revere's Midnight Ride.)

In Hebrew, familiar arrangement:

In updated Hebrew:

In Yiddish:

In Polish:

There is no denying that it's a catchy tune:

Audio only:

Pete Seeger and Issachar Miron interviewed about "Tzena, Tzena." Note that Seeger says nothing about the violation Miron's copyright, which was normal for Seeger in the 1940s and '50s. Miron had to file a lawsuit to reestablish his rights to the song, but he and Pete seemed to have patched things up by the time of the interview:

Here is the 1950 recording by Gordon Jenkins and the Weavers. Note the appropriated authorship -- attributed to "Spencer Ross - Gordon Jenkins" -- on the label (this is the 45 rpm; there was also a 78 rpm with the same false authorship). The flipside does credit "Hudie Ledbetter - Alan Lomax" for "Goodnight Irene."

Comments

[Alan Weinberger]

Thanks for sharing this with us!

[Ellen Wertheimer]

Thanks for this post. The Weavers were a fabulous group and hearing their energetic Tzena takes me back to my childhood. They do not alas get the attention that they deserve. As Lee Hays said, if it weren't for the "honor," he would just as soon not have been blacklisted.

[Maybell Romero]

Neat! Thanks for sharing.