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You Green Forest lyrics and meaning

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Tu, giruže, Tu žalioji mano! Aš vaikščiojau, Paklydusi buvau. /2×2 Šaukiu, šaukiu Tėvužėlio savo, Šaukiu, šaukiu, Neprišaukiu aš jo. /2×2 Tai man rodos, Tai medeliai didi, Nenueina Ne balselis toli /2×2 . Tu giruže, Tu žalioji mano! Aš vaikščiojau, Paklydusi buvau. /2×2 Šaukiu, šaukiu Motinėlės savo, Saukiu, šaukiu, Neprišaukiu aš jos /2×2 . Tai man rodos, Tai medeliai didi, Nenueina Ne balselis toli. /2×2 Tu, giruže, Tu žalioji mano! Aš vaikščiojau, Paklydusi buvau. /2×2 Šaukiu, šaukiu Brolužėlio savo, Šaukiu, šaukiu, Neprišaukiu aš jo. /2×2 Tai man rodos, Tai medeliai didi, Nenueina Ne balselis toli. /2×2 Tu giruže, Tu žalioji mano! Aš vaikščiojau, Paklydusi buvau /2×2 . Šaukiu, šaukiu Seserėlės savo, Saukiu, šaukiu, Neprišaukiu aš jos /2×2 . Tai man rodos, Tai medeliai didi, Nenueina Ne balselis toli. /2×2 Tu giruže, Tu žalioji mano! Aš vaikščiojau, Paklydusi buvau /2×2 Saukiu, šaukiu Bernužėlio savo, Saukiu, šaukiu, Tai prišaukiau aš jo /2×2 . Tai man rodos Ir medeliai maži, Tai nueina Ir balselis toli. /2×2

Meaning

This song can be understood as a song about a girl lost in the forest and the power of love. At the beginning, the song addresses the green forest and says that the girl walked and became lost. This image can be read as helplessness and loneliness.

Then the girl calls to her father, mother, brother, and sister, but she cannot summon any of them, because to her it seems the trees are tall and the little voice does not travel far. These images can be understood as the failure of kin to hear and as separation.

At the end, when she calls to her beloved young man, she does summon him, and then it seems to her that the trees are small and the little voice travels far. This turn can be read as love's exceptional power, reaching where the voice of kinship is unheard. This is one possible meaning, but the motif of being lost and the power of love is clear.

A second interpretation reads the song as a symbolic image of maturity and separation from the birth family. In folk songs, the forest often marks uncertainty and a boundary of transition, and the fact that the voices of father, mother, brother, and sister no longer reach may mean not only physical separation, but also the natural loosening of a young woman's ties to her parents' home. Then the beloved who answers, after which "the trees are small" and "the little voice travels far," marks the creation of a new bond, no longer based on kinship but on love, taking the place of the old world. This remains an inference, but it explains why it is the beloved, not the relatives, who restores orientation to the girl.

Symbols

Green forest and being lost
The forest in which the girl gets lost marks helplessness and loneliness.
Calling father, mother, brother, and sister
The relatives called in vain mark the search for help.
"The trees are tall, the voice does not travel far"
The relatives who do not hear the kinship voice mark separation.
Beloved who answers
The only one who hears, the beloved young man, marks the power of love reaching farther than kinship.

History

"You Green Forest" belongs to love songs. A girl lost in the forest calls in turn to her father, mother, brother, and sister, but summons none of them; only the beloved young man who answers transforms the whole world. The song is arranged by stanza repetition and gradation: every address is accompanied by the same refrain, "the trees are tall, the little voice does not travel far," and at the end it is reversed: "the trees are small, the little voice travels far."

The exact place and time of recording are not given on this page, so the song is presented according to genre features. The motifs of being lost in the forest and of love's power surpassing the voice of kinship are typical of love and youth songs. Variants of such songs are known in different regions of Lithuania.

Sources