Far, Far Away lyrics and meaning

Ei toli toli --- labai toli
Penki broleliai šieną pjovė
Penki broleliai šieną pjovė

O aš seselė vienturtėlė
Nešiau broleliams pusrytėlius
Vienoj rankelėj pusrytėliai
Antroj rankelėj abrūsėlis
O ir sutikau lenkų ponus
Nelabai puikius bajorėlius
Atėmė mano pusrytėlius
Iš baltų rankų abrūsėlį
Susėdo ponai pietų valgyt
Padavė manį žirgus laikyt
Ne tiek pailsau laikydama
Kiek aš pailsau beverdama
Aš tuos žirgelius paleidusi
Pas brolužėlius nubėgusi
Ei broliai broliai, broliai mano
Meskit dalgužius į šalalę
Meskit dalgužius į šalalę
Imkit kardužius į rankęlę
Vykit ponaičius, lenkų ponus
Nelabai puikius bajorėlius

Far, Far Away: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song about the wrong done to a sister and a call to resist. At the beginning, far away, five brothers are cutting hay, while their only sister carries them breakfast: food in one hand and an abrūsėlis, a towel, in the other. The image presents harmonious family labor.

On the road, the sister meets Polish lords, not very splendid nobles, who take away the breakfast and towel and force her to hold their horses while they eat. She says she was tired not so much from holding the horses as from anger and distress. These actions can be interpreted as the arbitrariness of lords and the humiliation of an ordinary young woman.

After releasing the horses, the sister runs to her brothers and urges them to throw their scythes aside, take swords, and pursue the Polish lords. This call can be understood as a motif of resistance, even armed resistance, against oppressive lords. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of injury and resistance is clear in the song.

Far, Far Away: symbols and phrases

Five brothers
The brothers cutting hay, to whom the sister carries breakfast. They mark family and shared labor.
Breakfast and abrūsėlis
The breakfast and towel carried by the sister and taken by the lords. Their seizure begins the wrong.
Polish lords
Arbitrary nobles who humiliate the sister. They mark the oppressors against whom resistance rises.
Scythes and swords
Throwing down scythes and taking swords marks the shift from peaceful labor to armed resistance.

Far, Far Away: song history

"Ei toli toli, labai toli" belongs to military-historical songs in which an ordinary village person encounters the arbitrary power of lords or foreign armed men. The song is built on an image of work: five brothers cut hay, and their only sister brings them breakfast, so the opening scene seems harmonious until wrongdoers intrude on the road. The naming of "Polish lords" and "nobles" points to social and ethnic tension characteristic of this genre.

The turn from injury to resistance, the sister's call to throw down scythes and take up swords, gathers the whole song into an appeal to resist oppressors. The exact place and time of this version's recording are not given on the page, so it is presented according to genre features; similar songs about a wronged sister and avenging brothers are found in various Lithuanian regions.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, t. 1–23, Vilnius 1980–2011 (LLTI)
  • D. Krištopaitė. Lietuvių karinės-istorinės dainos, Vilnius 1956
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 t., Vilnius 1972–1986

Far, Far Away: sources