The Roosters Are Crowing lyrics and meaning

Gieda gaideliai,
Giedos ir antri.
Gieda gaideliai,
Giedos ir antri.
Žvengia bėri žirgeliai
Prie rūtelių darže(lio) /2×2

O, kad išauštų
Šviesi aušrelė,
Kad patekėtų
Kaitri saulelė,
Eičia lygia lankelę
Žalio šienelio pjau(ti) /2×2

Dar neišpjoviau
Nė pradalgėlio,
Dar neišpusčiau
Plieno dalgelio,
Aš pamačiau mergelę
Vieškelėliu atei(nant) /2×2

-Eikš, mergužėle.
Artyn pas mane,
Eikš, lelijėle
Artyn pas mane,
Kalbėsime žodelį,
Žodelį kuo vierniau(sią) /2×2

-Neisiu, berneli,
Artyn pas tave,
Neisiu, jaunasis,
Artyn pas tave-
Bars mane motinėlė
Ir senasis tėve(lis) /2×2

-Tu netbok nieko,
Mano mergele,
Tu netbok nieko,
Mano jaunoji.
Aš tave pamokysiu
Tėveliam atsaky(ti) /2×2

-O ir atplaukė
Gulbių pulkelis,
O ir atplaukė
Gulbių pulkelis,
Sudrumstė vandenėlį,
Aš laukiau nusisto(jant) /2×2

The Roosters Are Crowing: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a courtship song marked by the young woman's caution and a hidden foreboding. At the beginning, the roosters crow and bay horses neigh by the rue garden, while the young man waits for dawn and the sun so he can go cut green hay. The morning scene opens a story of work and love.

Before he has cut even one swath or whetted his steel scythe, the young man sees a girl coming along the road and calls her closer so they may speak the most faithful word. The girl refuses, saying that her mother and old father will scold her. The young man reassures her, promising to teach her how to answer her parents. This dialogue can be read as a courtship lure and the girl's fear of parental authority.

The final stanza, where a flock of swans comes and disturbs the water while the girl waits for it to settle, can be understood as an image of troubled calm or uncertain promises. Waiting for the water to clear allows the song to be read as caution before a hasty consent. That is one possible meaning, but the courtship and the young woman's hesitation are clear.

The Roosters Are Crowing: symbols and phrases

Roosters and dawn
The crowing roosters and awaited dawn mark morning and the beginning of the work-and-love story.
Scythe and hay
The steel scythe and green hay form the work setting in which the courtship takes place.
Parents' scolding
Fear of the mother and old father makes the girl hesitate. It marks parental authority and her caution.
Swans disturbing the water
The flock of swans that troubles the water may signify disturbed calm and the need to wait until things settle.

The Roosters Are Crowing: song history

"The Roosters Are Crowing" belongs to love and courtship songs in which a young man entices a girl while she hesitates because of her parents' will. Such songs characteristically include a morning work scene - dawn and sun are awaited, green hay is to be cut - a dialogue between young man and young woman, and images of the rue garden, bay horses, and birds, here swans. The stanza form with repetition and split word endings reflects a singing manner.

The exact recording place and time are not given on the page, so the song is presented by genre; love and courtship song variants are abundant across Lithuania. The disturbed water caused by the flock of swans in the last stanza, and the waiting until it settles, is a symbolic image that may be connected with the girl's caution before too quick an agreement.

sources

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

The Roosters Are Crowing: sources