Father and Mother Wept lyrics and meaning

Verkė tėvas ir motina,
Kad sūnelį vaiskan rang(ia).

Neverk, tėvai ir motina,
Aš ten būsiu žalnierėl(is).

Aš ten būsiu žalnierėlis,
Viso vaiska vajaunyks.

Viso vaisko vajaunykas,
Iš pulkelio pulkaunyks.

Nuvažiuosiu Vilniaus miestan
Ir nupirksiu tris triūbas.

Ir nupirksiu tris triūbelas,
O ketvirtą varinę.

Pirmą triūbą užtriubysiu
Vilniaus miestą prajodams.

Antrą triūbą užtriubysiu,
Žalią giria, dajodams.

Trečią triubą užtriubysiu
Tėvo dvarą regėdams.

Varinėlę užugriausiu
Ant tėvulio didžio dvar(o).

Išein tėvas ir motina,
-Ar pažįstat mani jaun(ą)?

Ar pažįstat mani jauną?
Viso vaisko vajaunyk.

Viso vaisko vajaunyką,
Iš pulkelio pulkaunyk.

Oi suneli, oi sveteli,
Kaip mes tavi nepažins(me).

Nakty miego nemiegojom,
Dieną darbo nedarbuj(om).

Dieną darbo nedarbuj(om),
Pakol tavi užaugin(om).

Father and Mother Wept: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a soldier's or conscription song. At the beginning, father and mother weep because their son is being prepared for the vaiskas, the army, and he tells them not to grieve, promising that he will become a soldier there, a leader of the whole army and a commander of the troop. These promises can be interpreted as consolation and youthful pride.

The son then promises to go to Vilnius, buy three trumpets and a fourth of copper, and sound them on his way home until the noise reaches his father's estate. These images can be understood as a solemn return.

At the end, the parents come out and ask whether he will recognize them, the young military leader, and then say: how could we not know you, we did not sleep at night, we did not work by day, until we raised you. These words can be interpreted as parental devotion and love. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of sending a soldier away and parental love is clear in the song.

A second interpretive possibility: the chain of promises, to become a leader, commander, buy three trumpets, and sound them triumphantly while riding past Vilnius and seeing the father's estate, can be read not as an actual future return, but as an idealized image of consolation covering the real pain of conscription. In military-historical songs, such boasting by the narrator often works as a verbal way of comforting the family: in reality, conscription meant long years of service and often no return, so the elevated dream of return contrasts with the weeping at the start. Then the recognition scene with the parents sounds twofold, both as pride in the son and as their undiminished fear for him. This remains a hypothesis, but it explains why the song begins in tears and continues in images of triumph.

Father and Mother Wept: symbols and phrases

Preparing for the army
The son's taking into military service. It marks the conscription over which the parents weep.
Soldier, leader, commander
The military ranks the son promises to reach. They mark youthful pride.
Three trumpets and a copper one
The trumpets bought in Vilnius and sounded on the way home. They mark a solemn return.
"We did not sleep at night until we raised you"
The parents' statement about sleeplessness and labor in raising their son. It marks parental devotion and love.

Father and Mother Wept: song history

"Father and Mother Wept" belongs to military-historical songs about sending a son into the army. The song begins with the image of weeping parents, because "the son is being prepared for the army," and with the son's consolation, promising to become a soldier, "a leader of the whole army," and "a commander from the troop." Conscription and the sending off of recruits are the foundational motifs of this genre.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. The narrative about buying three trumpets and a copper one in Vilnius, then sounding them while riding past Vilnius, approaching the green forest, and seeing the father's estate, creates an image of solemn return. The final recognition scene, with the parents' words that they did not sleep at night or work by day until they had raised him, strengthens the note of parental love and devotion. Dialectal forms such as "vaiskas," "žalnierėlis," "vajaunykas," and "pulkaunykas" show a living spoken-language presentation.

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

Father and Mother Wept: sources