Night After Night I Could Not Sleep lyrics and meaning

Kas naktelė par naktelė meiga nemėiguojau
Žaliuojė lonkelie žirgelius dabuojau

Užmėgusi užsnūdusi mažą valondelė
Išgėrdau pajotau dėdė naujinelė

Atjuo atjuo jauns bernielis par žalė lonkelė
Šonkindams monkindams joudbierą žėrgielį

Kad aš gautiuo ton mergelė sau už prietelkelė
Linksmintiuos ir džiaugtiuos par visą omžielį

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep: song interpretation

This song, written in Samogitian dialect, can be understood as a young person's song about night horse-herding and the desire for love. At the beginning, the singer says that night after night there was no sleep while guarding horses in the green meadow. This image can be read as a young person's night watch over the horses.

After falling asleep and dozing for a little while, a new piece of news is heard, and a young man rides across the green meadow on a black-bay horse, making it dance and training it. His arrival can be understood as the anticipation of a meeting or courtship.

At the end, the wish is spoken: to have that girl as one's beloved, so that one might rejoice and be happy for a whole lifetime. This image can be interpreted as youthful hope for love and a happy future. That is one possible meaning, but the motifs of night horse-herding and love desire are clear.

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep: symbols and phrases

Watching horses at night
The horses are guarded through the night in a green meadow. This marks a young person's night labor and vigil.
Dozing off
The brief sleep beside the horses turns the song toward unexpected news and a meeting.
Young man on a black-bay horse
The rider crossing the meadow signals the anticipation of love and courtship.
Girl as prietelkele
The desired girl as beloved or betrothed. She signifies youthful hope for love and happiness.

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep: song history

This Samogitian text joins youth and love themes: night horse-herding in the green meadow is a typical image of young people's work and leisure, and through it a longing for love breaks through. Naktigonė - herding horses at night - often becomes a space of youth meetings and courtship in Lithuanian songs, so the arriving young man on a black-bay horse and the final wish to have the girl as a beloved belong to this group of motifs.

The exact recording place and time are not given on this page, so the song is presented through genre features; it is written in marked Samogitian dialect forms, such as "meiga," "lonkelie," "joudbierą žėrgielį," and "omžielį." The structure moves steadily from watching the horses, through a brief sleep, to the young man's appearance and the hope of a happy future.

sources

  • Lithuanian Folk Songbook, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
  • Catalogue of Lithuanian Folk Songs, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986

Night After Night I Could Not Sleep: sources