At an event April 6th 2022, Pembroke Pines City Center by Chabad Lubavitch of South Florida. Accompanying is the Pinny Ostreicher Orchestra.
In the text of the melody most of the words are Ukrainian-Russian, with some sentences in Hebrew and Yiddish.
The Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, of righteous memory, explained that the basic melody was learnt by the Ukrainian chassidim from peasant shepherds. In the tradition of the saintly Rebbe Yisroel Baal Shem Tov (founder of Chassidism), they reconstructed the thought and melody of this shepherds’ song to the theme of serving the Almighty. They have thus given us a pastoral chassidic melody, with a stirring call for repentance.
This melody is sung by chassidim at their festive occasions. Its inner meaning is: We have reached Simchat Torah, and we take stock of our actions. The month of Elul, the days of selichot, and the festivals of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret have all gone by, and we have not yet mended those areas of our soul in need of improvement. Then we must “drown” our body and animal spirit by moral stocktaking, so that they do not impede us in striving towards full repentance. By making an accounting of his deeds, the chassid endeavors to free himself from the shackles of bodily indifference and human boundaries. He pierces through all these obstacles to the broad path of Torah, fear of Heaven and worship of the L‑rd in joy. This melody is spiritually deeply moving and soul-stirring.
Transliteration:
Stav ya pi-too oov pi-yat-nitzoo (su-bo-too), oov pi-yat-nitzoo (su-bo-too)
Prah-poov ya, ya prah-poov s-va-yoo te-li-tzoo (ra-bo-too)
Tre-bah, tre-bah z-na-ti yak gool-ya-ti
Tre-bah, tre-bah z-na-ti yak bre-cha-ti
Oy, chesh-boin tze-dek o-da-va-ti
P-red pa-nom cha-za-ye-nom ot-vet-shati
Ah, mi pi-yem, da pi-yem, da mi gul-ya-yem
Un mir trin-ken ya-yin a-zoi vee ma-yim
Un mir zoh-gen a-leh tzu-za-men le-cha-yim
Ve-a-toh tish-ma min ha-sho-ma-yim
Translation:
I started to drink on Friday, on Friday
I had drunk, had drunk, my calf away.
One must, must know, how to be merry,
One must, must know, how to talk.
Oh, how to give a just reckoning
For the Master, the L‑rd,
Oh, to justify oneself.
But we drink, we drink, and we revel.
And we drink wine like water,
And we say together, “lechayim,”
And you, O L‑rd, please hearken to us in heaven.
The same melody is repeated, with substitutions (as shown in parentheses above), replacing the word “Friday” with “Sabbath,” and “calf” with “work.”
This melody was taught by the Rebbe on the holiday of Simchat Torah, 1962, after hakafot.