What Were You Thinking, Little Hop? lyrics and meaning
Kų dūmojai, apvynėli,
Sodely augdamas,
Ko, ko, ko dūmojai sodely augdamas? /2k
-Jei jūs manį nevarpysta,
Aš žemalį šliaušiu,
Ko, ko, ko dūmojai, aš žemalį šliaušiu. /2k
-Kų dūmojai apvynėli,
Virpteliulipdamas, ko
-Jei jūs manį neraškysta
Spurgelius barstysiu, ko
Kų dūmojai, apvynėli,
Kubili būdamas, ko
-Jei jūs mani neužraugsta,
Labai kartus būsiu, ko
-Kų dūmojai, apvynėli,
Bačkutaj sukoštas, ko
-Jei jūs man neišrauginsta,
Dugnėlį išspirsiu, ko
-Kų dūmojai, apvynėli,
Stiklinaj būdamas, ko
-Jei jūs mani kaštavosta,
Visi girti būsta, ko
O kai visus nugirdysiu,
Kur jus paguldysiu, ko
What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?: song interpretation
This song can be understood as a playful, personified hop song about the path toward beer. At the beginning, the little hop is asked what it was thinking as it grew in the garden, and it threatens to crawl along the ground if it is not trained up a pole. This answer can be read as the plant's willfulness if it is not cared for.
The same structure then repeats through the hop's path: while climbing the pole it threatens to scatter its cones; in the vat it threatens to be very bitter; strained into the barrel, it threatens to kick out the bottom. These images can be understood as stages of beer making, in which the hop appears stubborn and powerful.
Once in the glass, the hop boasts that whoever tastes it will all become drunk, and after making everyone drunk it asks where they will be laid down. This image can be read as a humorous elevation of the hop's power over beer and drunkenness. This is one possible meaning, but the playful, personified character of the hop is clear.
What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?: symbols and phrases
- Little hop
- The personified hop, the song's speaking partner. It marks beer's beginning and its power.
- Vat and barrel
- Beer-making vessels in which the hop is fermented. They mark stages in preparing the drink.
- Hop cones
- The hop's cones, which it threatens to scatter. They mark the plant's character and usefulness.
- Drunkenness in the glass
- The hop's power to make everyone drunk. It humorously magnifies the effect of the drink.
What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?: song history
"What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?" belongs to feasting songs about beer, in which the hop is personified and made into a talkative partner. The song is built on the repeated question "What were you thinking, little hop?" and threatening answers that move through the whole beer-making path. The hop growing in the garden threatens to crawl along the ground, climbing the pole it threatens to scatter cones, in the vat to be bitter, in the barrel to kick out the bottom, and in the glass to make everyone drunk. Such playful naming of beer's path and celebration of drunkenness is typical of feasting and carousing songs.
The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. The motif of the personified hop is found in different regions of Lithuania. The song is held together by a question-and-answer chain with the refrain "ko" and the gradual path of the hop from soil to glass, ending with the humorous question of where all the drunken people will be laid down.
sources
- Lietuvių liaudies dainynas, vols. 1-23, Vilnius 1980-2011 (LLTI)
- Lietuvių liaudies dainų katalogas, 6 vols., Vilnius 1972-1986
What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?: sources
What Were You Thinking, Little Hop?: frequently asked questions
What kind of song is this?
It is a feasting song about beer, in which a personified hop playfully tells its path from the ground to the glass.
Why does the hop threaten people?
At every stage of beer making the hop threatens what it will do if it is not tended: crawl on the ground, scatter cones, become bitter, kick out the barrel bottom. This playfully shows its willfulness and power.
What do the vat and barrel mean?
They are beer-making vessels in which the hop is fermented. They mark the stages on the hop's way to finished beer.
How does the song end?
In the glass, the hop boasts that it will make everyone drunk and jokingly asks where they will be laid down, humorously magnifying the drink's effect.