LYRIC
THE NINTH MAN- Journeys Ft. Moshe Yess- Composed by Abie Rotenberg- Journeys 1
When we were young yeshiva boys, way back in ’65
We were known throughout the city as the bums from the east-side,
In school we never studied, all we did was laugh and play
No rebbe ever lasted long, they all just ran away.
Rebbe tried to teach us Torah each and every day
But we just closed our eyes and ears to everything he’d say,
And all we’d like to do was sit and watch our TV sets
We’d talk about the Yankees, and the Dodgers, and the Mets.
The principal brought the new rebbe in on the first day of the term
And he said to him “Show discipline, be strong and tough and firm,
Don’t think these youngsters run the school,” he said with a big frown
“And by the way, for the next few weeks, I’m going out of town”.
This here rebbe he was strange, he never lost his cool
He just kept on teaching while we broke all the rules,
And though we hadn’t even learned a single word all year
It was Pesach time already, and the rebbe was still here.
Rebbe tried to teach us Torah each and every day
But we just closed our eyes and ears to everything he’d say,
And all we’d like to do was sit and watch our TV sets
We’d talk about the Yankees, and the Dodgers, and the Mets.
When Lag Ba’Omer came around, it was time to play that game
Against those boys from Brooklyn, how we prayed it wouldn’t rain,
All nine of us got on the bus, with our gloves and bats
Rebbe also came along in his jacket, tie, and hat.
Right from the start, we all could see things weren’t going right
Some big, strong kid from Bensonhurst had hit one out of sight,
And just when things were looking up, the tide about to turn
Our catcher went and broke his leg while sliding into third.
“It’s a forfeit!” cried the other team, “you’ve only got eight guys”
“No we don’t!” a deep voice said, much to our surprise,
“Since I am their rebbe, well the fair thing it would seem
is let me be the ninth man, the ninth man on this team”.
Rebbe went, picked up the bat, faced the pitcher with a smile
Knocked the cover off that ball, went about half a mile!
He flew around the bases, scored the winning run
We danced and cheered until he said “now boys, you owe me one”.
Next day in the classroom no one moved and no one stirred
Rebbe started teaching, and his voice it could be heard,
We all said “hey, it’s interesting, the man he is no bore”!
The legendary east-side bums were gone forevermore.
Rebbe used to teach us Torah each and every day
We opened up our eyes and ears to everything he’d say,
And no more did we sit all day and watch our TV sets
We talked about the Rashi, and the Tosfos… and the Mets.