Have They All Gone to Bed? lyrics and meaning

Ar jau visi sugula?
Ar jau visi sumiga?
Laukia manį matinutė iš dvarelia pareinant. x2

Belaukdama ir verkia
Ir vartelius atkėla.
Klausia manį matinutė ar su visų parėjai.

Ne su visaj matute,
Ne su visaj senute ---
Per šį dienų vakarėlį nutroti jau vainiką.

Oi, tu, sakal, sakalėli,
Tu, raibasis paukšteli-i
Nuskrisk nuskrisk žalion girion parnešk man vainikėlį.

Nuskristi tai aš nuskrisiu
Ir parnešti parnešiu,
Tik tu, jauna mergužėla, jo nebeužsidėsi.

Have They All Gone to Bed?: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song about lost maidenhood, expressed through the symbol of a lost wreath. At the beginning someone asks whether everyone has gone to bed and fallen asleep, because the mother is waiting for her daughter to return from the manor yard. As she waits she weeps and opens the gate, asking whether the daughter has come back "with everything."

The daughter's answer reveals the loss: during that evening gathering she has "nutroti," lost the wreath. In Lithuanian songs, the wreath is a symbol of maidenhood and chastity, so its loss may be interpreted as the loss of sexual innocence. The mother's question, whether she returned "with everything," gains a painful undertone.

The young woman turns to the falcon, the speckled bird, asking it to fly into the green forest and bring back the wreath. But the bird answers that even if it brings it back, she will no longer put it on. This answer can be understood as a sign of irreversibility: lost maidenhood cannot be recovered. That is one possible reading, but the motif of the lost wreath and irreversibility is very clear in the song.

Have They All Gone to Bed?: symbols and phrases

Wreath
A wreath of rue or flowers is a sign of maidenhood and chastity. Losing it means the loss of innocence.
"Did you come back with everything?"
The mother's question asks whether her daughter returned unchanged, whole, and chaste. After the loss of the wreath, it carries a painful undertone.
Falcon
The speckled falcon often appears in songs as a messenger. Here it is asked to bring back the lost wreath.
"You will no longer put it on"
A phrase of irreversibility. Even a returned wreath cannot restore lost maidenhood.

Have They All Gone to Bed?: song history

"Have They All Gone to Bed?" belongs to love and youth songs and revolves around the lost wreath, a symbol of maidenhood. The song is arranged as a dialogue between the daughter and the waiting mother, and its core is the mother's question, "did you come back with everything," followed by the daughter's confession that during the evening she "nutroti" the wreath. This kind of allusive narration is typical of lyric songs about a young woman's fate.

The exact place and time of recording for this variant are not given on the page, so the song is presented through its genre features. The address to the falcon, the speckled bird, which is asked to bring back the wreath, is a common song formula, while its answer - "you will no longer put it on" - emphasizes irreversibility: lost maidenhood cannot be regained.

sources

  • Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Have They All Gone to Bed?: sources