I Will Go Away lyrics and meaning

Oi eisiu eisiu, čionai nebūsiu
Čia nėr mona nomel

Čia jouda douna niekas nedouda
Skaudės mona širdeli

Ilgiau pabūsiu, daugiau sudžiūsiu
Kap nedrelė siūbousiu

Svyroul nendrelė ont ežerelė
Ont čysta vondenel

Ir aš siūrousiu jauna mergel
Kaip ant vandens nendrel

Tek to svyrousi jauna mergelė
Be monies bernuželel

I Will Go Away: song interpretation

This Samogitian song can be understood as a song about a girl unhappy in someone else's house. At the beginning she says she will go, she will not stay here, because this is not her home. These words can be read as a feeling of alienation and a wish to leave, common in songs about marrying into an unwelcome household.

She then complains that here no one gives even black bread, so her heart will hurt, and the longer she stays, the more she will wither. These images can be understood as signs of inhospitality and suffering.

At the end the girl compares herself to a reed swaying on the lake, on clear water. This swaying can be read as the girl's unstable, sorrowful lot, while the final line points toward separation from the young man. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of alienation and suffering is clear in the song.

I Will Go Away: symbols and phrases

"This is not my home"
The feeling that the foreign place is not home. It marks alienation after entering an unwelcome household.
Black bread no one gives
Even plain food is withheld. It marks inhospitality and lack of care.
Withering
The girl wastes away more and more. It marks suffering and a fading life.
Reed on the lake
The reed swaying in water, to which the girl compares herself. It marks an unstable, sorrowful lot.

I Will Go Away: song history

"I Will Go Away" belongs to family songs about a girl's lot in a foreign household, a theme frequent in songs about a daughter or daughter-in-law who finds herself in an unwelcome house. The complaint "this is not my home," the motif of inhospitality, no one gives black bread, and the self-comparison to a reed swaying in water are usual lyric formulas of this genre, conveying estrangement and loneliness.

The song is recorded in Samogitian dialect, with forms such as "mona nomel," "douna," "nedrelė," and "svyroul." The exact place and time of recording are not stated on this page, so it is presented through genre features. The parallel image of the reed swaying on the lake, on clear water, is the song's core: it connects the girl's inner state with a natural image and ends with a note of separation from the young man.

sources

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

I Will Go Away: sources