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Γιώργη, βαράν τα σήμαντρα
Giorgi, they’re ringing the bells.
So, Giorgi, get yourself off to church,
get yourself off to church to take communion.
“Mother, I sinned when serving as a soldier.
They’d all tethered their mounts in a green meadow,
but I went and tethered mine to a fair maid’s grave,
so he’d dig with his hoofs, so he’d dig with his shoes
to rouse the girl and bring her back as she once was”.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Γιώργη, μωρέ Γιώργη, Γιώργη, βαράν τα σήμαντρα,
Γιώργη, βαράν τα σήμαντρα, σημαίνουν οι καμπάνες.
Να πα-, μωρέ, να πα- να πας, Γιώργη μ’, στην εκκλησιά,
να πας, Γιώργη μ’, στην εκκλησιά, να πα να μεταλάβεις.
«Εγώ, μανούλα, αμάρτησα στρατιώτης όταν πήγα.
Όλοι τα δέναν τ’ άλογα σε πράσινο λιβάδι,
μα εγώ πήγα και το ’δεσα σε μαυρομάτας μνήμα,
να σκάβει με τα πέταλα, να σκάβει με τα νύχια
για να ξυπνήσ’ η κοπελιά και νά ’ρθει όπως πρώτα».
A good example of “censorship” in a song. This is a common phenomenon: when a song’s content is no longer comprehensible because the conditions it describes have changed or are morally repugnant, singers intervene to correct it, bringing it into line with their own views. Created in this way, constant repetition will set the new song off on a career parallel to that of the older version.
In this case, the sinner’s song has been purged and the sin expunged. Usually, when the act of God disturbs the congregation (see also One Easter Day, One Sunday), the song’s hero confesses to the heinous sin of desecrating the dead. When his horse uncovers the grave of a newly-buried girl, blinded by her beauty, he engages in sexual congress with her:
“…my horse pulled out a pink-cheeked girl,
he pulled up a pale-faced maid, I kissed her on her eyes and brow”.
Kissing eyes is the customary allegory for sexual congress in folk songs. In some versions, the singer hints that the girl is a priest’s daughter or the young man’s sister, thereby adding the sin of sacrilege or incest to that of desecration.
Miranda Terzopoulou (2008)
Based on Domna Samiou’s 1996 field recording of the song in Pera Melana, Kynouria (Arcadia).
Singers
Informant (source of the song)
