I Climbed the Hill lyrics and meaning

Užėjau ant kalno, pažiūrėjau klonin,
Ir prijojo ulonų šimtas milijonų. /2x

Ir prijojo ulonų šimtas milijonų,
O jau mano bernelio tik žirgelį veda. /2x

Žirgas pabalnotas, žėlabnai užklotas,
Ir aukselio litarėlėm vardas drukavotas. /2x

Kas man iš to vardo, iš tos pavardėlės,
Nėra mano bernelio, balto dobilėlio. /2x

Atjojo žalnierius, puikus aficierius,
Oi ko verki mergela, balta lelijėla. /2x

Neverkie mergela, balta lelijėla,
Atjos mano pulkas, išsirink sau vieną. /2x

O kad jų ty būtų, marelės liūliuotų,
Nebuvo ir nebus, kap mano bernelis. /2x

Plaukelių geltonų, veidelis raudonas,
Akelių mėlynų kaipo žibuoklėlių,
Rankelių baltųjų kaipo popierėlių.

I Climbed the Hill: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a military ballad about a fallen beloved. At the beginning the girl climbs a hill, looks into the valley, and sees a great troop of uhlans ride up, but only her young man's horse is being led. This image can be read as the sign of death.

The horse is saddled, covered in mourning, and the name is printed in golden letters. These images can be understood as a mourning-covered, riderless horse, since in folk ballads a riderless horse often means death. The girl says: what use is the name or surname to me, when my young man is gone?

At the end a soldier, a fine officer, rides up and tells her not to weep, offering her another from his troop. But the girl answers that there was not and never will be anyone like her young man, and recalls his yellow hair, red face, blue eyes, and white hands. This refusal can be read as faithfulness to the dead. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of the fallen beloved and loyalty to him is clear.

I Climbed the Hill: symbols and phrases

Troop of uhlans
The great body of cavalry riding up. It marks the returning army.
Horse covered in mourning
The riderless horse covered in grief-cloth. It marks the beloved's death.
Name printed in golden letters
The name written in gold letters. It is a memorial sign without the living person.
"There was not and will not be anyone like my young man"
The refusal to choose another from the troop. It marks faithfulness to the dead beloved.

I Climbed the Hill: song history

"I Climbed the Hill" belongs to military-historical songs close to ballad, about a beloved young man who has fallen. The genre is signaled by military images: the arriving troop of uhlans, the soldier and officer, and the beloved's riderless horse, covered in mourning. In folk ballads the return of such a horse without its rider signifies death. Songs of this kind speak of war not through battle description but through the loss suffered by loved ones and the girl's fidelity.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features. The final refusal to choose another from the troop and the listing of the fallen man's beauty, yellow hair, red face, blue eyes, gather the song around fidelity to the lost beloved.

sources

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

I Climbed the Hill: sources