You Stick, Little Stick lyrics and meaning

Tu lazda, lazdele,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Tu nukirsta riedėjai,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Užridėjai unt kalnelia,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Ant kalnelio dvarelis,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Tam dvarelį senelis,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Tam seneliui semegėla,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Tai sermėgai kišenėla,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Toj kišenei ragelis,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Tam ragelį tabokėla,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Ta taboka liadoka,
Dautuji, dautuji.

Pilk, seni, šikinėn,
Dautuji, dautuji.

You Stick, Little Stick: song interpretation

This song, with the refrain "dautuji," can be understood as a humorous cumulative song. At the beginning a cut little stick is addressed; it rolls and rolls up onto a hill. This image can be interpreted as the playful start of the chain.

The images then connect one after another: on the hill there is a manor, in the manor an old man, on the old man a homespun coat, in the coat a pocket, in the pocket a horn, and in the horn tobacco. This sequence can be understood as a cumulative structure, a joking chain of linked images.

At the end it is said that the tobacco is bad, followed by a coarse joke. This turn can be interpreted as a funny, unexpected conclusion typical of joking and teasing songs. That is one possible meaning, but the playful cumulative character of the song is clear.

You Stick, Little Stick: symbols and phrases

Rolling little stick
A cut stick rolling up onto a hill. It marks the beginning of the cumulative chain.
Chain: manor, old man, homespun coat, pocket, horn
Images linked one after another. They mark the song's cumulative structure.
Bad tobacco
Poor tobacco kept in the horn. It marks the comic conclusion of the chain.
Coarse comic ending
The unexpected rough turn at the end. It marks the teasing, joking character of the song.

You Stick, Little Stick: song history

"You Stick, Little Stick" belongs to humorous cumulative songs in which images are steadily hooked one onto another: from a cut stick that rolls up a hill, the song moves to a manor, an old man, a homespun coat, a pocket, a horn, and tobacco. The repeated refrain "dautuji, dautuji" after each line sustains the rhythm and is typical of such playful chain songs.

No exact recording place or time is given on this page, so the song is presented by genre features; the language is strongly dialectal, with forms such as "užridėjai," "semegėla," and "liadoka." The ending, with a coarse joke about bad tobacco, is characteristic of teasing and comic songs whose main aim is an unexpected, funny turn.

sources

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

You Stick, Little Stick: sources