Dona Dona
(sung by Joan Baez and Chad Mitchell)
On a wagon bound for market
There's a calf with a mournful eye.
High above him there's a swallow
Winging swiftly through the sky.
*How the winds are laughing
They laugh with all their might
Laugh and laugh the whole day through
And half the summer's night.
Dona dona dona dona
Dona dona dona don
Dona dona dona dona
Dona dona dona don*
"Stop complaining," said the farmer,
"Who told you a calf to be?
Why don't you have wings to fly with
Like the swallow so proud and free?" (**)
Calves are easily bound and slaughtered
Never knowing the reason why,
But whoever treasures freedom,
Like the swallow must learn to fly.(**)
Many years ago, one of my younger cousins, Sham, taught me this song. If I remember correctly, she played it on the piano and sang along. The moment I heard the song, I fell in love with it. As with all folksongs, this is Yiddish, by the way, the message behind the song is simple, yet open to interpretation. To me, it speaks of freedom and how one should seize it, and not sit and complain about the lack of it (like the calf).
As a kid listening to the song and singing along without realising the meaning behind the lines, I only fell in love with the simple tune and the way the words came together. I especially loved the 1st stanza and till today remember it so vividly!
But as I sing it today, it speaks to me differently. And there is a certain melancholy in the tune that I don't think I heard in it before. This, I attribute to life's experiences, and how inevitably they change the way we look, feel and hear things, especially things of our past.
Just thought I shall share this song cuz I've been humming it the whole day and I'm trying so hard to get it out of my system. So, all the calves out there.. grow wings so you can be proud and free like the swallow! =)
2 comments:
"Yeah Yeah, Lookin' Good Aighttt"
HaHaHa...
Ok la...really nice...kindda refreshing, so yes, continue bloggin k? Then I'll just keep pokin' (oooh walked straight into tt one didn't I)
Oh Well, Love ya to bits Hon..
Take Care
If you live in a third world and you are about to listen and understand this song? I think the meaning that reflects the real life is more on the Calf and the Farmer. Yes its the freedom and how one should seize it that is true, but what if you are the calf how will you do that? Would you say to yourself - i should not sit and complain! What should i do to this farmer? I'm easily bound and slaughtered.
You know, the wiles of this cruel world leaves majority of the people in a poor country live and lost their lives like a calf. In the world of capitalism, people can't exist without someone to step upon, same with socialism. To watch the swallow so proud and free only makes calves face every inch of their lives. Would you say to those dead people - it's your fault, you were not doing your best like the farmer saying - stop complaining you calf.
We have to renew this world!
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