<
>

Dana Dana

Aaron Zeitlin

On a wagon lies a calf,
Lies there, bound with a rope.
High above in the sky flies a swallow,
Happily flying back and forth.

The wind laughs in the cornfield,
Laughs and laughs and laughs,
Laughing the whole day long,
And half the following night.

Dana, Dana, Dana, Dana...
Dana Dana Dana Da...
Dana, Dana, Dana, Dana...
Dana Dana Dana Da...

Cries the calf, says the farmer:
"Who told you to be calf?
You could've been a bird,
You could've been a swallow."

Poor calves get bound,
Carried away and slaughtered;
But he who grew wings can soar high,
And is nobody's slave.

Text: Aaron Zeitlin [Ahron Tzeitlin] (1889 - 1973)
Music: Shalom Secunda [Sholom Secunda] (1894 - 1974)
Yiddish song for the theater piece "Esterke" (1940/41)
English translation from Yiddish: Farid Hajji (08/26/2006).

Can you improve this translation?
Home :: Poetry :: Protest (1) :: Dana Dana