Lithuanian folk songs

Lithuanian love songs

58 songs in this genre

Lithuanian love songs place a young woman and man at the well, in the rue garden, beside water, or tending horses at night—outside the formal sequence of wedding ritual. Emotion is commonly expressed through parallel images from nature: the girl may be a linden, the young man an oak, falcon, or horseman, and a disturbed garden may signal threatened affection.

The 58 songs collected here preserve the original Lithuanian lyrics. Their English guides explain courtship conventions, poetic symbols, regional or recorded context, and the difference between independent love lyric and songs tied to a wedding rite.

A Little Falcon Flew In

Lithuanian love song about a little falcon, a dry fir that turns green, an impossible promise, distance, and betrayal.

A Little Tree in the Green Forest

Lithuanian courtship song with a praised maiden, stars lighting the road, thorn bush obstacle, dialogue, symbols, and FAQ.

Across the Field

Across the Field Lithuanian love and courtship song: English context on ducks, horse, praise, reason, marriage, and a teasing refusal.

Ah, Trouble, Trouble

Ah, Trouble, Trouble Lithuanian folk song: water crossing, weeping like a cuckoo, bird cherry blossoms, dark berries, and wedding separation.

Beyond Seas, Lagoons, and Waters

Beyond Seas, Lagoons, and Waters Lithuanian courtship song: bird cherry, persuasion, gold ring, fidelity, and English context.

Beyond the Blue Waters

Beyond the Blue Waters Lithuanian love-work song: English context on Subartonys source, ploughing, grey oxen, meals, and FAQ.

Beyond the Danube

Beyond the Danube Lithuanian folk song: courtship dialogue, family obstacles, green rue, golden cups, and symbolic distance.

Beyond the Lake

Samogitian Lithuanian love song: girls under linden, young men under birch, rue garden, courtship, and a brother gone abroad.

Did I Not Tell You, Sister?

Did I Not Tell You, Sister? Lithuanian courtship warning song with rue, lily, ash fence, horse damage, and a mother's advice.

Do Not Ride Yet, Stop Awhile

Lithuanian love and family song contrasting forced marriage to an old man with chosen love for a young man.

Down That Street

Down That Street Lithuanian Samogitian love song: young man and young woman weeping under a maple, parents as insufficient comfort, and equal longing.

Dusk Has Fallen

Dusk Has Fallen Lithuanian courting song: English context on searching for a bay horse, birch grove, evening, and playful dialogue.

Farewell

Farewell Lithuanian folk song from Rhesa: rider, dropped cap, gate, neighing horse, crossed timing in love, and FAQ.

Fly, Falcon, Over the Lagoons

Fly, Falcon, Over the Lagoons Lithuanian love song: falcon, cuckoo, weeping maiden, bed making, rue, roosters, and a night made longer.

Fly, Little Falcon

Lithuanian courtship song paralleling falcon and duck with young man and maiden, night lodging, uncertainty, gifts, and FAQ.

Gray Falcon Passing By

Dzūkian Lithuanian love song paralleling falcon and young man, cuckoo and girl, unmatched beauty, dialect, and praise.

Green Fir Tree

Green Fir Tree Lithuanian youth song: short-lived youth, timely marriage, father's delay, army threat, and FAQ.

Have They All Gone to Bed?

Have They All Gone to Bed Lithuanian folk song: lost wreath, mother-daughter dialogue, falcon messenger, and lost maidenhood.

Hey, It Grows and Grows

Lithuanian courtship song joining a speaking oak’s transformation into sled and boat with a joyful beloved motif and mythic undertones.

High Juniper Hills

High Juniper Hills Lithuanian courtship song: English context on lost grey oxen, abariai enclosures, wealth, youth, and FAQ.

I Am a Wayfarer

I Am a Wayfarer Lithuanian courting song: the green forest, linden, cradle, silk bedding, and a bridal choice.

I Fed the Horse

Lithuanian courtship song about feeding a dark bay horse, riding to the maiden, in-laws’ welcome, marjoram flowers, gold and silver.

I Rested the Horse

I Rested the Horse Lithuanian courtship song: orphan bride, dowry anxiety, horse visits, bright star comparison, and fear of later reproach.

I Rode by Day

Dzūkian Lithuanian love song of longing, restless horse, rue in wind and rain, sleeplessness, Vilnius, Warsaw, and home.

In That Street, Under the Sycamore

Lithuanian love and longing song: girl and young man cry under the sycamore, parents cannot replace the beloved.

In the Manor Yard

In the Manor Yard Lithuanian love song: English context on saddled horse, shared journey, Nemunas, bedding, fidelity, and union.

Lavender, Green Herb

Lavender, Green Herb Lithuanian love song: girl confides in a plant, dream of beloved, bay horse, rue garden, and orphan poverty.

Little Currant

Little Currant Lithuanian courtship song: sweet berry, orphan maiden, ralylia refrain, lyrical dance mood, and decision to marry.

Little Spring

Lithuania Minor song from Rėza: spring under maple, sun daughters, lost ring, silk nets, young rider, and family restraint.

Mother, My Mother

Lithuanian courtship dialogue between daughter and mother: dancing fiddling suitor, flowered cap, fading charm, and firm love.

My Beloved Rose Early

My Beloved Rose Early Lithuanian courtship song: morning preparation, green wine, green grass, horse, sweetheart, and war variant.

My Father's Bright Manors (Courtship Song)

My Father's Bright Manors Lithuanian courtship song: young rider, lilac branch, father's home, disturbed calm, and context.

My Young Woman

My Young Woman Lithuanian courting song: English context on love, keeping one's word, black shoes, gold ring, and betrothal gifts.

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep Lithuanian Samogitian song: English context on night horse-herding, courtship, dialect, and FAQ.

O Bird Cherry Tree

Lithuanian song about the bird cherry tree, impossible winter blooming, frost, wind, stoat, spring and maidenhood symbolism, and FAQ.

Oak and Linden

Oak and Linden Lithuanian love song: English context on tree and couple parallelism, oak, linden, joined branches, shoulders, hands, and FAQ.

Oh, Southernwood Bush

Oh, Southernwood Bush Lithuanian sad love song: seduced and abandoned girl, wreath, rue branch, child, young man gone to war, and lost honor.

On the Lagoon Shore

On the Lagoon Shore Lithuanian courting song: English context on boats, youth, home, distant lands, and deferred marriage.

Over the High Hill

Over the High Hill Lithuanian courting song: English context on sunrise, brother-rider, sister dialogue, pearls, diamonds, and roses.

Passing By

Passing By Lithuanian love song: gray falcon, cuckoo, beloved's uniqueness, fairs, braids, bird-human parallelism, and FAQ.

The Falcon Sings and Coos

Lithuanian courtship song built on falcon and young man parallelism, berries, wine, luring the beloved home, symbols, history, and FAQ.

The Little Peahen in the Manor Yard

Little Peahen Lithuanian love song: English context on silk, gold, pearls, ornament, gifts, and courtship imagination.

The Maiden Walked

Lithuanian love song with an orphaned maiden, lavender garden, suitor’s horse at rue garden, lack of dowry, symbols, and FAQ.

The Roosters Are Crowing

The Roosters Are Crowing Lithuanian courtship song: English context on haymaking, parental authority, swans, disturbed water, and FAQ.

The Sun Circled Round

The Sun Circled Round Lithuanian folk song: courtship, circling motion, green rue, the young man's horse, and parental honor.

The Woodsman-Hunter

Lithuanian Rėza song about a hunter entering the forest edge, meeting a berry-picking girl, sleeping, losing spurs, and comic shame.

There on the Hill

Lithuanian courtship song about a maiden’s lost gold ring, three fishermen, a silk net, mint, rue, and the promise of herself.

Through This Whole Night

Through This Whole Night Lithuanian love song: sleepless night, apple tree planting, red apples, gift for beloved, and youth gathering.

What a Maiden I Once Was

What a Maiden I Once Was Lithuanian youth song: English context on dancing with a young man versus a widower, rue, ring, and FAQ.

What the Young Man Planned

Lithuanian courtship refusal song: a girl rejects a drinking suitor's ring, silk gifts, tavern life, and squandered estate.

Where Is That Spring?

Where Is That Spring Lithuanian love song: overgrown spring, lost beloved, Amazon memory note, black-bay horse, and context.

Who Is That Young Rider?

Who Is That Young Rider Lithuanian youth song: English context on dialect, grey horse, silver sabre, fiery riding, and FAQ.

Whose Green Orchards?

Lithuanian courtship dialogue with green orchards, sycamores, a bay horse, woven linen, Degučiai or Sūduva, and mutual devotion.

Willow on the Hill

Willow on the Hill Lithuanian folk song: wellside courtship, dew, the jomarkas market, boots, and a young woman’s dignity.

Willows Swayed on the Hill

Willows Swayed on the Hill Lithuanian courtship song: English context on lilies, clover, the granary, nature parallels, and FAQ.

With a Fish-Scale Comb

With a Fish-Scale Comb Lithuanian love song: hair combing, fish scale, hair sent across the Danube, distant beloved, pale horse, and golden saddle.

You Green Forest

Lithuanian love song of a lost girl in the forest, calls to family unheard, and the beloved whose voice reaches far.

You Red Guelder Rose

You Red Guelder Rose Lithuanian courtship song: red guelder rose, swift stream, weeping maiden, landless soldier, and settled ploughman.