Song

Sometimes I wake up in the night with a song on my mind. Usually, the song gets stuck to me for some time until I hear it sung by a singer. Recently, it has been the song which starts with  "Jedno życie masz..."/"One life you have...". I learned it at primary school, and I sang it then with the school choir. Most of the lyrics I had forgotten, that was only that one verse:

 

"Jedno życie masz, komu dasz ten kwiat, nie idź za rzekę zginiesz tam"/

"One life you have, who will you give that flower to, do not go across the river, you will perish there."    

 

 I remembered that the original version in English was sung by Joan Baez, so I looked for a video on youtube.

Interestingly, looking for the Polish version of "Dona, Dona", I also learned that it is actually a traditional Jewish song with lyrics in Yiddish.

 

Well, there is always something new to learn. I like the red dress by the way.

The Polish lyrics were not about cows going to slaughter, though. It was more like an anti-war song.
 

Finally, it is, I found the words I had learned at school.

 

"Jedno życie masz, 

komu dasz ten kwiat? 

Nie idź za rzekę zginiesz tam.

 

Komu dasz ten kwiat? 

Życia swego kwiat? 

Kiedy zza rzeki padnie strzał? 

 

Ludzie, ludzie nie gińcie,

Wy ocalicie świat.

Ludzie, ludzie szkoda was. 

To wojna zginąć ma.

 

Dona Dona Don..."

Which is

 

"One life you have,

Who will you give that flower to?
Don't go across the river,

You will perish there.

 

One life you have,

Who will you give that flower to?
The flower of your life?

When the shot from across the river will be fired.

 

People, people do not perish,

You will save the world.
People, people do not perish,

The war is that one to die.

 

Dona Dona Don..."

 

 
I did not manage to find any live version of the song sung in Polish (with the particular lyrics mentioned above), so the song is still here Dona Dona Dona Dona...