Irony, Fame and Sholom Secunda

Sholom Secunda lived from 1894 to 1974. He was a child wonder as a cantor, and proceeded to become a composer. He wrote two of the most famous popular songs of the twentieth century.  The first was Bei Mir Bistu Shein. The second was Donna Donna (Dona Dona). Both stories are fraught with irony, so I’ll briefly recount them (I love irony).

Bei Mir Bistu Shein was written in 1932 for a Yiddish play that didn’t do too well. According to the legend, Sammy Cahn (who wrote the lyrics to many of everyone’s favorite classics, including “Let it Snow”) heard the song in 1937 performed in Yiddish by two Afro Americans (see the Wikipedia entry), saw the potential, and bought the rights for the song for $30.

He then proceeded to write a snappy version, and got the Andrew Sisters to perform it. The Andrew Sisters (not at all Jewish) became famous as a result, Cahn and his buddies made a pretty penny (until the copyright reverted to the writers in 1961).

The famous Andrew Sisters version:

This is in Yiddish, and closer to the original

And a recent version by the awesome Bette Midler:

The song Dona Dona began as Dana Dana, a song that Sholom Secunda had written for another Yiddish play in 1940-41. He wrote an English version of the song that didn’t gain popularity. The translation by Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz became popular especially after Joan Baez sang it in her first record in 1960.

and Donovan, on his first album in 1965

So if you’ve never heard these marvellous stories before, well now you have.