Jerusalem National Sound Archives placement: Yc 2325/2 Referenced and notated in: Romancero Sefardi de Marruecos pg. 208, Editorial Alpuerto, Pardes Publishing House, 2018 Susana Weich-Shahak. We know this romance exclusively from the Sephardic versions from Morocco. Text: Cuando yo enfermí de amor, triste y non dormía yo, de dolor en los mis güesos, de ansias de mi corazón. Ay, salíme a un campo verde por tirar del corazón, vidi hoja verde llana, cada una de su color. Vidi moza en la ventana, que alegró mi corazón: metí la mano y cogíla, y escogí la más mejor. Cuando la metí a mi casa sin desbroche me habló, cuando la metí en mi cama vidi negra y más peor. Ay, salíme yo a la calle, quebrado de corazón; toda la gente me mira, me pregunta la razón: - Qu tenés, hombre bellaco?, de qué cobratis valor? qué, ¿no hubo hombre en el mundo que se casó como vos? - Oy, dejéisme, oy, la gente, oy, dejéisme en mi dolor, que voy a tirar mi cuerpo a una mar sin hondor: la carne daré al pescado y a la gente la razón, la carne daré al pescado y el alma, vaya con Dios.- Translation: When I fell ill with love, sad and sleepless, from the pain in my bones, from the yearning in my heart. Oh, I went out into a green field to tug at my heartstrings, I saw a plain green leaf, each one its own color. I saw a girl at the window, who gladdened my heart: I put my hand in and picked her, and I chose the best one. When I brought her into my house without unbuttoning, she spoke to me; when I put her in my bed, I saw her ugliness and even worse. Oh, I went out into the street, broken-hearted; all the people stare at me, asking me the reason: - What's wrong with you, you scoundrel? What do you value? What, was there no man in the world who married like you? - Oh, leave me, oh, people, oh, leave me in my pain, for I'm going to throw my body into a shallow sea: I'll give the flesh to the fish and reason to the people, I'll give the flesh to the fish and the soul, may God bless me.
This website was created by Orit Perlman with the collaboration and blessings of Dr. Susana Weich-Shahak in 2025