What the Young Man Planned lyrics and meaning

Kas bernelio pamislyta
Bernužėlio sumislyta
Aukso žiedelį nukaldinti
Ir mano vardelį įmušdinti /2×2

Neis už tavęs netekėsiu
Nei tavo žiedelio nedėvėsiu
Kas dienužę gėrei uliavojai
Karčemoj už stalo pernakvojai /2×2

Kas bernelio pamislyta
Bernužėlio sumislyta
Šilko kuskužę nupirkdinti
Ir mano vardelį įmušdinti /2×2

Neis už tavęs netekėsiu
Nei tavo kuskužės nedėvėsiu
Tu pragėrei jautelius
Ir nuo lauko rugelius /2×2

Kas bernelio pamislyta
Bernužėlio sumislyta
Šilko kasnyką nupirkdinti
Ir mano vardelį įmušdinti /2×2

Neis už tavęs netekėsiu
Nei tavo kasnyko nedėvėsiu
Tu pragėrei bėr žirgelius
Ir marguosius dvarelius

Tu pragėrei bėr žirgelius
Ir marguyosius dvarelius
Tu pragersi mane jauną
Ir nuo rankos žiedužius

What the Young Man Planned: song interpretation

This song can be understood as a girl's refusal to marry a drunken young man. At the beginning, the young man plans to have a gold ring forged and her name stamped into it. This plan can be read as a sign of courtship and attachment.

The girl answers that she will not go with him, will not marry him, and will not wear his ring, because he drank every day, caroused, and spent nights at a tavern table. The stanzas repeat with a silk scarf and ribbon, and each time the refusal is grounded in the young man's drinking.

The song lists what the young man has drunk away: oxen, rye, bay horses, and variegated estates. Finally it says that he will drink away her young self and the rings from her hand as well. This image can be read as fear of sharing a drunkard's ruin. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of refusing a drunkard is clear.

What the Young Man Planned: symbols and phrases

Gold ring with a name
The ring, kerchief, and ribbon promised by the young man with the girl's name on them are courtship gifts.
"I will not marry you"
The girl's repeated refusal is the axis of the song.
Drunk-away oxen, rye, horses, estates
Everything the young man has squandered in taverns. They mark the drunkard's ruin and the collapse of the household.
"You will drink away my young self"
The girl's fear that she too will be lost like the property. It marks anxiety about sharing the drunkard's fate.

What the Young Man Planned: song history

"What the Young Man Planned" belongs to love and courtship songs, more precisely to a girl's refusal song in which a drunken young man is rejected. The song is built on strict parallel structure: each time the young man promises a gift, a gold ring with her name, a silk kerchief, a ribbon, and the girl rejects it, repeating what he has already drunk away. This rhythm of offered gift and refusal, with an expanding list of squandered property, is characteristic of courtship-themed songs.

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. Its core is the repeated refusal stanza "I will not go with you, I will not marry you" and the gradually growing list of property drunk away: oxen, rye, horses, estates. It ends with the fear that the young man will drink away the girl herself.

sources

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

What the Young Man Planned: sources