Ale vasserlech (All the waters flow away) for alto saxophone and guitar

Description

Instrumental arrangement of a Yiddish folk song.

Lyrics of the original folksong (English translation follows)
Ale vasserlech flisn avek,
di gribelech blaybn leydik.
Nito aza mentsh oyf gor der velt,
vos zol farsteyn mayn veytik.
Di yorelech tsien, di yorelech flien,
di tsayt geyt avek vi roych,
un az ich dermon zich on dir, mayn zis lebn,
geyt mir oys der ko’ech.
Un aza meydele shpilt a libe, shpilt in ir alle farbn
un az zi shpilt ir libe nit oys,
ken zi cholile noch shtarbn.
Un az de tepelech trinkenen oys
blaybn zey ale leydik
un az a meydele firt ir libe nit oys
vert zi farfalln oyf eybik.

All the waters flow away
The little ditches remain dry
There is nobody on this whole earth
who can understand my pain
The years drag on, the years flee
Time goes away like smoke
and when I think of you, my sweet life
I lose my strength
And when a young girl plays at love
all the colours play in her
and if she doesn’t play her love for real
she can – G*d forbid – still die.
And when the water jars run out
they all remain dry
and when a young girl doesn’t play her love for real
she will pine away for ever.