The melody loosely based on a Yiddish traditional, there are a couple of title variations, "Dortn iz mayn rue plats", "Rue plats", "Mayn rue platz" etc. (and at least as many English transliterations). The lyrics are said to relate to the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire or generally to the working conditions of Jewish US immigrants in the beginning of the 1900s.