"Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" (), sometimes "Tzena, Tzena", is a song, written in 1941 in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Its music is by

Issachar Miron Issachar Miron ( he, יששכר מירון; July 5, 1920 – January 29, 2015) was an Israeli and American composer, best known for the song "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena". He was also a poet, writer, educator, filmmaker and stage producer. Biography Miron ...

(a.k.a. Stefan Michrovsky), a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

emigrant in what was then the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

(now

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

), and the lyrics are by .

History

Miron, born in 1919, left Poland at the age of 19 in the late 1930s, thus avoiding the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. In 1941, while serving in the

Jewish Brigade The Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, more commonly known as the Jewish Brigade Group or Jewish Brigade, was a military formation of the British Army in the Second World War. It was formed in late 1944 and was recruited among Yishuv Jews from Manda ...

of the

British forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

, he composed the melody for lyrics written by Chagiz. The song became popular in Palestine and was played on the

Kol Yisrael ''Kol Yisrael'' or ''Kol Israel'' ( lit. "Voice of Israel", also "Israel Radio") is Israel's public domestic and international radio service. It operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Service from 1951 to 1965, the Israel Broadcastin ...

radio service. Julius Grossman, who did not know who composed the song, wrote the so-called third part of "Tzena" circa November 1946. After hearing

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...

performing ''Tzena'', with

The Weavers The Weavers were an American folk music quartet based in the Greenwich Village area of New York City originally consisting of Lee Hays, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. Founded in 1948, the group sang traditional folk songs fro ...

as backing,

Gordon Jenkins Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910 – May 1, 1984) was an American arranger, composer, and pianist who was influential in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Loui ...

made an arrangement of the song for the Weavers with English lyrics. The Jenkins/Weavers version, released by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

under catalog number 27077, was one side of a two-sided hit, reaching No. 2 on the

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

charts in 1950 while the flip side, "

Goodnight Irene "Goodnight, Irene" or "Irene, Goodnight," is a 20th-century American folk standard, written in time, first recorded by American blues musician Huddie 'Lead Belly' Ledbetter in 1933. A version recorded by the Weavers was a #1 hit in 1950. The ...

," reached No. 1. Cromwell Music Inc., a subsidiary of Richmond/TRO, claimed the rights to the song, and had licensed the Decca release. They alleged the music to have been composed by a person named Spencer Ross. In reality this turned out to be a fictitious persona constructed to hide the melody's true authorship. Mills Music, Inc., Miron's publisher, sued Cromwell and won. The presiding judge also dismissed Cromwell's claim that the melody was based on a traditional folk song and was thus in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

Covers

The original English lyrics, written by

Mitchell Parish Mitchell Parish (born Michael Hyman Pashelinsky; July 10, 1900 – March 31, 1993) was an American lyricist, notably as a writer of songs for stage and screen. Biography Parish was born to a Jewish family in Lithuania, Russian Empire in July 190 ...

, were greatly altered in the version recorded by the Weavers. Other charting versions in 1950 were recorded by

Vic Damone Vic Damone (born Vito Rocco Farinola; June 12, 1928 – February 11, 2018) was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit " You're Breaking My Heart", an ...

(Billboard pos. 6),

Ralph Flanagan Ralph Elias Flenniken (April 7, 1914 – December 30, 1995), known professionally as Ralph Flanagan, was an American big band leader, pianist, composer, and arranger for the orchestras of Hal McIntyre, Sammy Kaye, Blue Barron, Charlie Barnet, an ...

& His Orchestra, and

Mitch Miller Mitchell William Miller (July 4, 1911 – July 31, 2010) was an American choral conductor, record producer, record-industry executive, and professional oboist. He was involved in almost all aspects of the industry, particularly as a conductor ...

's Orchestra. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' obituary of Issachar Miron lists the following artists who covered "Tsena Tsena": "It was sung in some 39 languages and was performed and recorded by numerous leading artists in the United States, including Pete Seeger, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Dusty Springfield, Connie Francis, Vic Damone, Chubby Checker, the Smothers Brothers and Arlo Guthrie."Issachar Miron
an obituary *Guitarist

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music s ...

recorded an instrumental version of "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" on his 1960 album ''

The Other Chet Atkins ''The Other Chet Atkins'' is the thirteenth studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins. It is an unusual and notable album for him in that the entire album features Chet playing an acoustic nylon-string (Spanish) guitar and there is no country ...

''. *1960:

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

, ''Connie Francis Sings Jewish Favorites'', Universal Records *1961:

The Springfields The Springfields were a British folk-pop vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland. They included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, songwriter Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, who was later replace ...

, album ''

Kinda Folksy ''Kinda Folksy'' is the debut album by vocal-trio The Springfields. It was directed by Ivor Raymonde. Track listing #"Wimoweh Mambo" (Paul Campbell, Solomon Linda) - 1:55 #" The Black Hills of Dakota" ( Paul Francis Webster, Sammy Fain) - 2:25 ...

'', a cover of the version by ''The Weavers'' described by

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

as "a ridiculously brassy arrangement" *1961: A humorous version titled "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena, Tzena" was recorded by the

Smothers Brothers The Smothers Brothers are Thomas ("Tom" – born February 2, 1937) and Richard ("Dick" – born November 20, 1938), American folk singers, musicians, and comedians. The brothers' trademark double act was performing folk songs (Tommy on acoustic gu ...

on their 1961 debut album, ''

The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion ''The Smothers Brothers at the Purple Onion'', released May 1, 1961 on Mercury Records, is the first album released by the Smothers Brothers and established their reputation as folk music satirists. The Purple Onion was a celebrated comedy and m ...

''. *1961 Canada, 1962, USA

The Barry Sisters Minnie Bagelman (April 6, 1923 – October 31, 1976) and Clara Bagelman (October 17, 1920 – November 22, 2014),NOTE: Claire Barry was not born in 1923, the year that had previously been cited as her year of birth, but in 1920, as all notices ...

, album ''Shalom'' as part of Side A, track 1: ''Izraeli Medley''(''Artza Alinu Tzena-Tzena'') *1964:

Chubby Checker Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including The Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighte ...

, on ''Chubby's Folk Album'' *1967: The Dudaim duo: album סיור עם הדודאים = ''On Tour With The Dudaim'' *1969: ''Sing Along With Effi Netzer'', Vol. 2 *1971: a single by

Marion Rung Marion Rung (born 7 December 1945 in Helsinki) is a Finnish pop singer. She is known for having represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1962 and 1973. Her 1962 Eurovision song placed 7th, and in 1973, she managed to bring Finland's ...

*In the 1980s, Israeli folk star

Ran Eliran Ran Eliran ( he, רן אלירן; born December 16, 1934), known as "Israel's Ambassador of Song," is an Israeli singer. Biography Ran Eliran (Menachem Leizerovich) was born in Haifa, British Mandate of Palestine. He was the middle child among t ...

recorded the song, along with 14 more songs by Miron, to make the album ''Sing to Me Eretz Yisrael''. *

Phranc Phranc (born Susan Gottlieb; August 28, 1957), is an American singer-songwriter whose career began playing in several bands in the late 1970s Los Angeles punk rock scene. Her musical style later shifted during the 1980s as a solo artist, into ...

recorded the song for his 1998 album ''

Milkman Milk delivery is a delivery service dedicated to supplying milk. This service typically delivers milk in bottles or cartons directly to customers' homes. This service is performed by a milkman, milkwoman, or milk deliverer. (In contrast, a cow ...

''. *In October 2012 a single was released by RebbeSoul, featuring musicians and singers from South America, Africa, the UK, USA, and Israel, singing intheir native languages

Lyrics

Transliterated: ''Tzena, tzena, tzena, tzena ha-banot u-r’ena ħayalim ba-mosheva; Al na, Al na, Al na, Al na, al na titħab’ena Mi-ben ħayil, ish tzava.'' Translated: "Go out, go out, go out girls and see soldiers in the

moshava A moshava ( he, מושבה, plural: ''moshavot'' , lit. ''colony'') was a form of rural Jewish settlement in Ottoman Palestine, established by the members of the Old Yishuv since late 1870s and during the first two waves of Jewish Zionist immi ...

; Do not, do not, do not hide yourself away from a virtuous man pun on the word for "soldier" an army man."

References

External links

* *Ari Y. Kelman
Hear Israel. When the Weavers recorded the popular Israeli folk song ‘Tzena Tzena’ in 1950, they did more than legitimize a strain of musical culture; they introduced Israel to a generation of young Americans

Tablet Magazine ''Tablet'' is an online magazine focused on Jewish news and culture. The magazine was founded in 2009 and is supported by the Nextbook foundation. Its editor-in-chief is Alana Newhouse. History ''Tablet'' was founded in 2009 with the suppor ...

, January 7, 2011 {{Authority control Hebrew-language songs Vic Damone songs 1941 songs