Helen Remembers Hungarian Lullaby

• Helen Remembers Hungarian Lullaby

  
  

  Helen Horvath Harbove recalls the lullabies that her parents taught her as a child.

  Credit / Author:

  Ellis Island Oral History Collection

  Date created:

  10/14/2020

 

Helen Remembers Hungarian Lullaby (Transcript)

Interviewee: Helen Horvath Harbove

Date of Birth: November 3, 1914
Date of Interview: November 24, 1992
Interviewer: Janet Levine, PH.D.
Immigrated from Hungary in 1921 at Age 7
Ellis Island Collection: EI 234

LEVINE: Do you remember anything your mother told you about Hungary before you ever went there?

HARBOVE: No, I don't think, I don't remember that. I think my father talked more to us than my mother. And he used to sing a lot. I remember him always whistling or singing, and I did like that. I remember him like that, whistling and singing.

LEVINE: Would you be able to sing a Hungarian song on tape?

HARBOVE: Of course! (they laugh )

HARBOVE: I know several, not one or two.

LEVINE: Please, go ahead.

HARBOVE: Now?

HARBOVE: I like this one. (She sings in Hungarian) My mother used to sing that all the time, too. And the translation of that is, "Whoever loves their baby, no matter how it's snowing or raining, he will find her. He'll even cross the bridges to find her." That's the whole thing. That's a lovely little song.