Clover, Little Clover lyrics and meaning
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Kas ten pučia per girelę?
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Vėjas pučia per girelę,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Kas ten joja per laukelį?
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Jaunas brolis per laukelį,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Show translation
This translation explains the words; it is not a singable adaptation.
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover,
Clover, little clover.
Lithuanian lyrics
Kas ten pučia per girelę?
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Literal meaning
What is blowing through the little forest?
Clover, little clover.
Lithuanian lyrics
Vėjas pučia per girelę,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Literal meaning
The wind is blowing through the little forest,
Clover, little clover.
Lithuanian lyrics
Kas ten joja per laukelį?
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Literal meaning
Who is riding across the little field?
Clover, little clover.
Lithuanian lyrics
Jaunas brolis per laukelį,
Dobilio, dobilėli.
Literal meaning
A young brother across the little field,
Clover, little clover.
Variant from the Slaviūnas collection (SlS II-601, recorded 1925 in Vepriai)
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio.
Ko girelė ūžė, dobilio?
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio.
Užtat giria ūžė, dobilio,
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio,
Kad vėjelis pūtė, dobilio.
Show translation
This translation explains the words; it is not a singable adaptation.
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio.
Ko girelė ūžė, dobilio?
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio.
Užtat giria ūžė, dobilio,
Dobilio, dobilėli, dobilio,
Kad vėjelis pūtė, dobilio.
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover, clover.
Why did the little forest rustle, clover?
Clover, little clover, clover.
That is why the forest rustled, clover,
Clover, little clover, clover,
Because the little wind blew, clover.
SlS III-1258 a
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kas laukely joja?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Dobilio, dobilėli,
A kurgi važiuoji?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kadu atvažiuosi?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kai abu važiuosme.
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Show translation
This translation explains the words; it is not a singable adaptation.
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kas laukely joja?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover,
Who is riding in the field?
Little clover!
Little clover!
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli,
A kurgi važiuoji?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover,
And where are you going?
Little clover!
Little clover!
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kadu atvažiuosi?
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover,
When will you arrive?
Little clover!
Little clover!
Lithuanian lyrics
Dobilio, dobilėli,
Kai abu važiuosme.
Dobilėl!
Dobilėl!
Literal meaning
Clover, little clover,
When we both travel together.
Little clover!
Little clover!
View illustration
Meaning
Clover in the song is a green plant of earth and good fortune. The refrain "dobilio, dobilėli" gives the voices a firm rhythmic support and lets the short question lines sound like an observation of nature.
When travel or rider motifs appear in variants, clover becomes more than a meadow plant. It joins the home field to a broader road of human movement.
A second interpretation focuses on the Vepriai variant, which is a pure nature question-and-answer, almost a riddle: "Why did the little forest roar? Because the little wind blew." Sutartinės researchers regard such dialogic structure as archaic: the song does not narrate, but, like an incantation, names the order of the world and its causes. Clover, especially as a three-leaf plant, is associated in folk tradition with luck, abundance, and lush growth. Its constantly repeated name may therefore be not only a sonorous refrain, but also a word calling fertility and life. The polyphony itself becomes a sonic image of wind and forest-roar: the voices "roar" like the forest.
Symbols
- Clover
- A green field plant associated with life, good fortune, abundance, and the rhythm of the song.
- Wind through the little forest
- A movement in nature answered by the voices of the sutartinė; in the riddle variant, it explains why the forest roars.
- Young brother
- A figure of travel or family presence in the site's variant.
- Refrain "dobilio"
- The repeated sound acts as a link between voices and may also be a word calling life and good fortune.
History
"Dobilio, dobilėli" has several entries in Slaviūnas' collection: volume II, no. 601 and variants in volume III, no. 1258. This points not to a single fixed text, but to a living family of sutartinės with the same clover refrain. The II-601 variant was written down in 1925 in Vepriai (Ukmergė county) by Pr. Pauliukonis from the 47-year-old Felicija Terasienė (LTR 734(44)); it is classified as a trejinė and as a song about nature. In this variant, the song turns around a riddle: why did the little forest roar? The answer is that the wind was blowing.
Another version, reflected in the site's text, adds travel and rider imagery: a young brother rides across the little field. The surviving LLTI sound recording makes this sutartinė especially valuable, because it lets listeners check not only the words but also the interweaving of the voices.
Sources
- Z. Slaviūnas. Sutartinės, vols. 1-3 (1958-1959)
- Zenonas Slaviūnas sutartinės collection, LTR 734(44) (sutartines.info) · Slaviūnas, Sutartinės, II-601
- D. Račiūnaitė-Vyčinienė. Sutartinės: Lithuanian Polyphonic Songs (2002)
- Slaviūnas, Sutartinės, III-1258a
- LLTI: recording of SlS III-1258 a
- Universal Lithuanian Encyclopedia: sutartinės
Common questions
Why is clover so common in sutartinės?
Clover is short, sonorous, green, and symbolically linked with luck and abundance, which makes it well suited to a refrain.
Are there several variants of this sutartinė?
Yes. Slaviūnas includes the II-601 nature-riddle variant and III-1258 travel variants, and LLTI also has a sound recording.
Who recorded the II-601 variant?
Pr. Pauliukonis recorded it in 1925 in Vepriai from Felicija Terasienė (LTR 734(44)).
What do the nature questions mean?
They let the song move by a riddle principle: asking what blows, what roars, or who rides through space. This is an archaic sutartinė structure.
Clover, Little Clover: is this a trejinė?
Yes. The main Slaviūnas entries are classified as trejinės.
Where can the melody be heard?
A link to the LLTI sound recording is given in the source list on the Lithuanian page.