I know even less Yiddish than Russian (if that's possible), but this is clearly in alternating Yiddish and Russian verses.

I believe that M.I (on Soviet records) and Misha (on Hed-Arzi etc) Appelbaum are not the same person.

By coincidence I have this song on an Israeli LP sung by Misha Alexandrovich, who IS the same person as Mikhail Alexandovich the Soviet tenor.

You are three times right

There is alternation of Yiddish and Russian verses, so I added Russian as second language.

Mikhail (=Michael) and Misha in Russian are the same name. The difference is that Mikhail is formal one, while Misha is informal one - just like Robert and Bob or Williams and Bill.

Michael Iosifovich (on Soviet records) and Misha (on Hed-Arzi etc) Appelbaum are really different persons! They even have different spelling in Russian: Эпельбаум vs. Аппельбаум.

May be we should spell M.I. Appelbaum as Apelbaum i.e. with single "p" ? Pavel, you are an expert in Jewish names, what do you think?

first of all, i think that i'm not expert!

second, you are three times right too!

third, you can use "Mikhail Eppelbaum" for soviet singer and "Misha Appelbaum" for israel singer. hope, it's a good solution

in any case, Mikhail Eppelbaum was born in Odessa (or in Brest-Litovsk) in 1894 and died in Leningrad in 1957

Misha Appelbaum was born in 1920 in Hotin and died in the end of 1980s in Petakh-Tikva

Thank you, Pavel! I followed your advise and updated "Michael Appelbaum" on "Mikhail Eppelbaum".

Фамилия певца Михаила Иосифовича Эпельбаума всегда писалась с одним "п", так как написано на этикетке представленной пластинки, а не так как в её описании здесь. Фамилия же израильского певца Миши Аппельбаума (Misha Appelbaum) пишется с двумя "п".