Drink, Dear Guests lyrics and meaning
Gerkit mieli sveteliai
miego nenorėkit
Dar aš tokių svetelių
nigdi neturėjau
Dar aš tokių svetelių
nigdi neturėjau
Jei nenorit gercie
eikit lauko arcie
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
plieninių žagrelių
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
plieninių žagrelių
Jei nenorit arcie
eikit šieno pjaucie
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
plieninių dalgelių
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
plieninių dalgelių
Jei nenorit pjaucie
eikit šieno grėbcie
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
klevinių grėblalių
Aš dėl jūsų pridariau
klevinių grėblalių
Gerkit mieli sveteliai
miego nenorėkit
Dar aš tokių svetelių
nigdi neturėjau
Jei nenorit gercie
aikit laukan šokcie
Aš dėl jūsų prisamdžiau
cvankių muzikėlių
Jei nenorit šokcie
aikit kluonan gulcie
Aš dėl jūsų priklojau
minkštų patalėlių
Jei nenorit gulcie
eikit pasikarcie
Aš dėl jūsų privijau
kanapinių virvių
Aš dėl jūsų privijau
kanapinių virvių
Drink, Dear Guests: song interpretation
This song can be understood as a humorous host's song, inviting guests to drink and continually offering them new tasks. At the beginning the host urges the dear guests to drink and not want sleep, saying that he has never had guests like these before. This creates a hospitable but mischievous tone.
Then, if the guests do not want to drink, they are told to go plow, since steel plows have been prepared; if they do not want to plow, they should go cut hay with steel scythes; if they do not want to cut, they should rake with maple rakes. This sequence of tasks can be read as a playful reproach to guests who neither drink nor work.
The ending grows increasingly exaggerated: they are invited to dance to hired music, to lie down on soft bedding, and finally, jokingly, to go hang themselves on twisted hemp ropes. This absurd ending can be understood as grotesque humor characteristic of feast songs. That is one possible meaning, but the comic character of the song is unmistakable.
Drink, Dear Guests: symbols and phrases
- Dear guests
- Guests whom the host urges to drink and stay awake. They are the targets of the playful reproach.
- Steel plows and scythes
- Tools offered to guests who do not want to drink. They create an exaggerated, comic image of hospitality.
- Cvanki music
- Hired lively music for dancing. It marks the entertainment and mood of the feast.
- Hemp ropes
- Twisted ropes jokingly offered for hanging. They are the grotesque, absurd final point of the song.
Drink, Dear Guests: song history
"Drink, Dear Guests" belongs to humorous feast songs in which the host playfully urges guests to drink and, if they do not wish to, keeps offering them new work. Such songs often have a chain-like, cumulative structure: each stanza rejects the previous offer and adds a new one - drinking, plowing, mowing, raking, dancing, sleeping - while the ending is exaggerated until it reaches grotesque absurdity, with the joking suggestion to "hang yourselves" on hemp ropes. This is typical feast-song humor.
No specific recording place or time is given on this page, so the song is presented by genre; similar joking banquet songs have variants recorded in different Lithuanian regions. Dialectal forms such as "gercie," "arcie," "nigdi," and "cvankių" point to a living spoken tradition.
sources
- Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
Drink, Dear Guests: sources
Drink, Dear Guests: frequently asked questions
What kind of song is this?
It is a humorous feast song in which the host urges guests to drink and, when they refuse, offers them new tasks and entertainments.
Why does the song list so many kinds of work?
It has a cumulative chain structure: each stanza rejects one offer and adds another, playfully teasing guests who neither drink nor work.
Why does the ending mention hanging?
It is grotesque, joking exaggeration typical of feast songs. It ends the chain of offers with an absurd point, not a serious command.
What does cvanki music mean?
It means lively, loud, hired music for dancing, conveying the noisy fun of the feast.