| Originale | (Transcription of the foregoing Yiddish version) |
| LEONARD COHEN: BIRD ON THE WIRE | FOYGL ON A DROT |
| | |
| Like a bird on the wire | Vi a foygl on a drot, |
| Like a drunk in a midnight choir | Vi a shoker in a mitlnakht khor, |
| I have tried in my way to be free. | Hob ikh gepruvt, oyf mayn veg, fray tsu lebn. |
| Like a worm on a hook | Vi a vorem on a hake, |
| Like a knight from some old-fashioned book | Vi a riter fun an alt bukh, |
| I have saved all my ribbons for thee. | Hob ikh gehaltn ale mayne shmates far dir. |
| | |
| If I have been unkind | Oyb ikh hob nit geven gerekht, |
| I hope that you can just let it go by | Hof ikh az du kenst lozn es geyn, |
| If I have been untrue, | Oyb ikh hob nit geven ofnhartsik |
| I hope you know it was never to you. | Hof ikh az du veyst, ‘s hot nit keynmol geven tsu dir. |
| | |
| Like a baby stillborn | Vi a mapl-kind, |
| Like a beast with his horn | Vi a khaye mit zayn horn, |
| I have torn everyone who reached out for me. | Hob ikh tsugerisn yede, vos hobn gepruvt mikh tsu greykhn. |
| But I swear by this song | Ober ikh shver oyf dem lid |
| And by all that I have done wrong | Un oyf alts vos ikh hob geton falsh, |
| I will make it all up to thee. | Ikh vet makhn es alts aroyf tsu dir. |
| | |
| I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch, | Ikh hob gezen a betler gelent on zayn krikholts, |
| He said to me, "You must not ask for so much." | Er hot mir gezogt, du muzt nisht fregn far azoy fil, |
| And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door, | Un a shoyne froy bay ir fintstere hoyztir |
| She cried to me, "Hey, why not ask for more?" | Hot mir gezogt, farvos fregstu nisht mer? |
| | |
| Like a bird on the wire | Vi a foygl on a drot, |
| Like a drunk in a midnight choir | Vi a shoker in a mitlnakht khor, |
| I have tried in my way to be free. | Hob ikh gepruvt, oyf mayn veg, fray tsu lebn. |
