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Whoever Wants to Be Free lyrics and meaning

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Kas norit valioj būti Valalėj uliavoti Tekėkit už liesnyko Tekėkit už liesnyko Girelių paliaunyko, Naktelių pablūdnyko Dienelį karčmoj geria Naktelį kelių joja, Parjojįs muštravoja. -Mergela lelijėla Nenuk nūnai naktelį Lauk manį parjojančio Lauk manį parjojančio Kurtelių parlojancių, Žirgelio paržvingiascio Sėdziu jauna po langu, Klausau jauna per langu,- Jau kelalis pardunda Jau kelalis pardunda Jau kurteliai parloja Jau ma mielas parjoja.

Meaning

This song can be understood as an ironic warning about marrying a forester. At the beginning, as if offering advice, it says: whoever wants to live at liberty and carouse should marry a liesnykas, a forest keeper, a wanderer of the nights. This encouragement can be read as a deceptive promise of freedom.

In reality, the forester spends the day drinking in the tavern, rides the roads at night, and when he returns he drills, scolds, or beats. These images can be understood as the hard, anxious lot of a married woman, the opposite of the promised freedom.

At the end, the young woman, told not to sleep and to wait for him to ride home, sits by the window and listens until the road rumbles, the hounds bark, and her beloved returns. This waiting can be read as the anxious vigil of a wife. That is one possible meaning, but the ironic warning about supposed freedom is clear.

Symbols

Liesnykas, keeper of the woods
The forester whom the song ironically advises marrying. He marks a supposedly free but actually hard fate.
Day in the tavern, night on the roads
The forester's drinking and night riding. They mark his restless, neglected way of life.
Returning to scold or beat
The husband who comes home and mistreats his wife. He marks the hard lot of marriage.
Waiting by the window
The woman listening for the returning husband. It marks anxious wakefulness.

History

"Whoever Wants to Be Free" belongs to family songs about the lot of a married woman, here presented as an ironic warning about marrying a forester, or liesnykas. The song opens as if with an alluring invitation to anyone who wants freedom, but quickly overturns it: the promised liberty becomes a hard wife's lot when the husband drinks in the tavern by day, rides the roads by night, and scolds or beats when he returns. This ironic juxtaposition of supposed freedom and real fate is typical of family-theme songs.

The specific place and date of recording are not given on the page, so the song is presented through its genre features. The figure of the forester (liesnykas, keeper of the woods) and the image of waiting by the window occur in variants from different Lithuanian regions. The second part turns to the wife's anxious vigil: she sits by the window, listening until the road rumbles, the hounds bark, and the beloved rides home.

Sources