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Brother, Why Do You Not Feed the Horse? lyrics and meaning

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Oi brolalia brolalia Ko nešarai žirgelio Oi oi, ko nešarai žirgelio Ko nešarai žirgelio Nebalnojai balnelio Oi oi Nebalnojai balnelio Ko nejojai an vainos Oi oi Oi sasula sasula Slaunas Rygos miestelis Oi oi Aina vaiskas kai vanduo Krenta galvos kai bitės Oi oi An petelių ranyčia, Tai ta mano motułė Oi oi Prie šonelio šoblałė, Tai ta mano sesułė Oi oi

Meaning

This dialect song can be understood as a soldier's song about war and separation from family. At the beginning the sister asks her brother why he does not feed the horse, saddle the saddle, and ride to war. These questions can be interpreted as a call to prepare for war.

The brother answers with the famed town of Riga, where the army flows like water and heads fall like bees. These images can be understood as a picture of the horror of war and many deaths.

At the end the brother says that the ranyčia on his shoulder is his mother, and the šoblelė at his side is his sister. This image can be interpreted as a painful separation of the soldier from his family, when weapons replace loved ones. That is one possible meaning, but the motif of war and separation from kin is clear.

Symbols

Feeding and saddling the horse
Preparing to ride to war. It marks the beginning of departure.
Famed town of Riga
The city near which the battle takes place. It marks the battlefield.
"Army like water, heads like bees"
The flowing army and falling heads. They mark the horror of war and mass death.
Weapons instead of kin
The ranyčia as mother, the šoblelė as sister. They mark the soldier's separation from family.

History

"Brother, Brother" belongs to military-historical songs about riding out to war and separation from loved ones. The song begins with a chain of questions - why do you not feed the horse, saddle the saddle, ride to war - and this stepped question-and-answer structure with the refrain "Oi oi" is characteristic of the genre. The battlefield image - the city of Riga, the flowing army, the falling heads - connects the song to the memory of historical battles.

The song is recorded in a strong dialect (brolalia, sasula, vaiskas, šoblałė), and the exact place and time of recording are not stated on the page, so it is presented by genre features. The final image, in which weapons - ranyčia (a firearm or gun) and šoblelė (a saber) - become the soldier's mother and sister, is a powerful formula of the genre, conveying the soldier's loneliness and separation from family.

Sources