Throwback Thursday Musical Showcase: Steve Lawrence Sings "Where Can I Go?" in English and Yiddish

Leo Fuld was a Dutch singer who specialized in Yiddish songs. While in Paris after World War II he visited a little Yiddish night club where he heard a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto sing a song which touched him deeply - Vi ahin zol Ikh geyn?. 

Fuld was so impressed that he asked the composer for a copy and said "I'll make this a world hit!". He kept his promise; upon returning to England he wrote English lyrics and recorded it for Decca under the title Where Can I Go?. 

It was also released in America, and he became a star overnight. He sang it on television in the Milton Berle show, the Perry Como Show and in the Frank Sinatra Show, and it was also recorded by some of America's biggest record stars such as Ray Charles and Steve Lawrence. Among his greatest fans were such stars as Billie Holiday, Al Jolson and Édith Piaf. 

In February 1965 Steve Lawrence sang the song on the Ed Sullivan Show. Let's turn the clock back 58 years to listen to him sing this classic song in English and Yiddish.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

 

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Tell me, where can I go? There's no place I can see. Where to go, where to go? Every door is closed for me. To the left, to the right, It's the same in every land. There is nowhere to go And it's me who should know, Won't you please understand? Now I know where to go, Where my folks proudly stand. Let me go, let me go To that precious promised land. No more left no more right. Lift your head and see the light. I am proud, can't you see, For at last I am free: No more wandering for me.   

 

Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Ver kon entfern mir? Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Az farshlosn z'yede tir S'iz di velt groys genug Nor far mir iz eng un kleyn Vi a blik kh'muz tsurik S'iz tsushtert yede brik Vi ahin zol ikh geyn? Dort ahin vel aich gein.