Dona Dona

DESCRIPTION: "On a wagon bound for market There's a calf with a mournful eye. High above him there's a swallow Winging swiftly through the sky." The farmer tells the calf that, if it wants to fly, it should be a swallow. But those who treasure freedom has/must fly
AUTHOR: Yiddish Words: Aaron Zeitlin / Music: Sholom Secunda / usual English translation: Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Yiddish drama "Esterke," according to Wikipedia)
KEYWORDS: cattle bird nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Averill-CampSongsFolkSongs, p. 551, 554, "Donna Donna" (notes only)
DT, DONADONA
RECORDINGS:
The Crofut Family, "Dona, Dona" (Piotr-Archive #675, recorded 09/17/2023)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Dana Dana
Dos Kelbi
דאנא דאנא
דאס קעלבל
NOTES [114 words]: I can't vouch for its authority, but the Wikipedia article on this song ("Dona, Dona") is well worth reading. It is particularly poignant that such a song was written in Yiddish at the height of Nazi success.
I don't know what it says that most "folk" versions call this by the name "Dona Dona" (which seems to have been the original English title) and most "pop" versions call it "Donna Donna."
The last line seems to have developed an oral variant. Should it be "But whoever treasure freedom Like the swallow HAS learned to fly" (the way I learned it, probably from the Chad Mitchell Trio) or "...must learn to fly"? It matters a great deal to whether one is "blaming the victim." - RBW
Last updated in version 6.7
File: ACSF551D

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