I Grew Up in the Village lyrics and meaning

Užaugau kaimely
Užgriuvo takeliai-
:Nebegaliu aš atrastie
Motinėlės dvarelio. :

Eisiu į girele
Pas raibają gegutę ---
:Paprašysiu aš plunksnelių
Ir raibujų sparnelių.:

Paprašysiu plunksnelių
Ir raibųjų sparnelių.
: Ir nulėksiu į sodelį,
Ties močiutės langeliu.:

Išeikie, motule,
Išeikie, širdele,
: Klausyk balso gegužėlės
Žaliam vyšnių sodely. :

An raibų plunksnelių
Büt raiba gegutė,
:O an skambančio balselio
Būtų mano dukrelė.:

-Sugrįžkie, dukrele,
Sugrįžkie, jaunoji,
: Sugrįžk, jauna dukterėle,
Pusę dvaro žadėsiu. :

-Negrįšiu, motule,
Negrįšiu, širdele,
: Nebegrįšiu, motinėle,
Kad ir visą žadėsi.:

I Grew Up in the Village: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a song of longing by a married daughter. At the beginning it says, I grew up in the village, the paths have become blocked or overgrown, and I can no longer find my mother's manor. This image can be interpreted as separation from home after marriage.

Then the daughter goes to the forest to the speckled cuckoo to ask for feathers and wings, so that she might fly to her mother's window. These images can be understood as a desire to become a cuckoo and visit the mother, since the cuckoo in folk songs is often linked with longing and with the married daughter.

At the end the mother calls her to return, promising half the manor, but the daughter answers that she will not return even if the whole manor were promised. This refusal can be interpreted as the irreversibility of marriage. That is one possible meaning, but the longing for home and irreversible marriage motif is clear.

I Grew Up in the Village: symbols and phrases

Blocked, overgrown paths
The paths leading to the mother's home but grown over. They mark separation after marriage.
Speckled cuckoo, feathers, wings
The cuckoo whose wings are requested. It marks the desire to become a bird and visit home.
Mother's window and cherry orchard
The mother's home and garden. They mark the longed-for birth place.
"I will not return, even if you promised all"
The daughter's refusal to return even for half or all the manor. It marks the irreversibility of marriage.

I Grew Up in the Village: song history

"I Grew Up in the Village" belongs to family songs - the lyric field of separation between a married daughter and her mother. The genre is shown by the main motifs: overgrown paths to the birth home, the wish to borrow the cuckoo's feathers and fly to the mother's window, and the daughter's final refusal to return. In Lithuanian songs the cuckoo is often associated with longing and with the married daughter, so here it becomes a sign of separation from home.

The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. The final dialogue - the mother promising half the manor and the daughter answering "I will not return, even if you promised all of it" - gives meaning to the irreversibility of marriage, a frequent theme in family songs.

sources

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

I Grew Up in the Village: sources