Oh, on the High Hill lyrics and meaning

Oi, ant kalnelio, ant aukštojo,
Kaitri ugnelė kūrinosi,

Kaitri ugnelė kūrinosi,
Motina sūnelį žėlavojo,

Motina sūnelį žėlavojo,
Pernakt miegelio nemiegojo,

Pernakt miegelio nemiegojo,
Dieną darbelio nepadarė,

Dieną darbelio nepadarė,
Kolei sūnelį užaugino.

O jūs žalnieriai grenadieriai,
Duokit sūnelį ūlytelen,

Duokit sūnelį ūlytelen
Bériems žirgeliams muštravoti,

Beriems žirgeliams muštravoti,
Šviesia šoblele švitravoti.

O kad neduosit ülytelen,
Rašyk, sūneli, gromatėlę,

Rašyk, süneli, gromatėlę
Įmane, seną motinėlę.

Kad nerašysi gromatėlės,
Barstyk, sūneli, ašarėles,

Barstyk, sūneli, ašarėles
Po lygiai muštu vieškelėliu.

Oh, on the High Hill: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a recruit song about a mother's grief when her son is taken into the army. At the beginning a fierce fire burns on a high hill, and the mother žėlavoja, mourns, her son: she did not sleep all night and did no work by day while she raised him. These images may be interpreted as the mother's labor and anxiety.

The mother addresses the soldiers and grenadiers, asking them to give her son back to the village rather than teach him to drill horses and polish a sabre. This plea can be understood as the mother's hope to reclaim her son from military service.

At the end, if the son is not returned, he is asked to write a little letter to his old mother; if he does not write, he should scatter tears along the evenly beaten highroad. These images can be interpreted as the only remaining bonds with a distant son. That is one possible meaning, but the mother's grief for a son taken into the army is the clear central motif.

Oh, on the High Hill: symbols and phrases

Fierce fire on the hill
A fire burning high up. It marks the mother's burning grief and wakefulness.
Mother grieving for her son
The mother mourns, sleepless and unable to work. She marks both the labor of raising him and the loss.
Soldiers and grenadiers
The military men who have the son. They mark the army taking the young man away.
Letter and tears on the highroad
A written letter or tears left along the road. They mark the last remaining connections with a distant son.

Oh, on the High Hill: song history

"Oh, on the High Hill" belongs to military-historical recruit songs about a mother's sorrow for a son taken into the army. The song opens with a fierce fire burning on a high hill and with the mother who "žėlavoja" - grieves for her son, sleeping none of the night and doing no work by day. This image combines the mother's labor in raising him with her anxiety at losing him. The vocabulary - soldiers, grenadiers, drilling, sabre, letter - shows the later-century theme of recruitment and military service.

No exact recording place or time is given on this page, so the song is presented by genre. The mother's address to the soldiers, asking them to return her son to the village rather than train him to handle horses and flash a sabre, and the final image - if they will not return him, let him write a letter; if he will not write, let him scatter tears along the road - belong to the painful poetics of separation typical of this genre.

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

Oh, on the High Hill: sources