A Polish Folk Song
Melody Transcribed by Robert J. Baran
This Page Last Updated: September 5, 2015
This was sung for my family by my father on several occasions while I was growing up.
(There do exist videotapes with segments of Dad crooning it to some of his grandchildren.)
Dad's brothers and my grandfather before them also sang it.
Grandpa Baran was born in Lowczowek, Plesniak, Galicia (pre-1918 SE Poland) on January 23, 1893.
His children were all born in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
Two different partial transcriptions were used as a basis for the following,
plus
text
from a non-family source (see below).
To represent the Polish letter "l" which has a short diagonal line through its center
(and pronounced as if it were "w"), the bolded "
l
" is used herein.
To represent the Polish letter "a" which has a cedilla under it, the bolded "
a
" is used herein.
To represent the Polish letter "e" which has a cedilla under it, the bolded "
e
" is used herein.
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Melody:
C D E F G C A A C A G E F F G F E E E D D E D C E G F F G F E E E D D E D C E C |
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1
busy Monday morning, Father cut hay, and so did I, mowed together he and I. Father cut hay, and so did I, mowed together he and I.) |
2
(On a Tuesday morning, busy Tuesday morning, Father raked hay, and so did I, raked together he and I. Father raked hay, and so did I, raked together he and I.) |
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3
busy Wednesday morning, Father dried hay, and so did I, dried together he and I. Father dried hay, and so did I, dried together he and I.) |
4
busy Thursday morning, Father pitched hay, and so did I, pitched together he and I. Father pitched hay, and so did I, pitched together he and I.) |
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5
busy Friday morning, Father stacked hay, and so did I, stacked together he and I. Father stacked hay, and so did I, stacked together he and I.) |
6
busy Saturday morning, Father hauled hay, and so did I, hauled together he and I. Father hauled hay, and so did I, hauled together he and I.) |
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7
cows ate hay that morning, Father rested, and so did I, rested well, both he and I. Father rested, and so did I, rested well, both he and I.) |
NOTE FROM RJB: The Sunday verse
A w Niedziela
rano,
(And on Sunday morning,
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GLOSSARY
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FEEDBACK
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"Thanks for posting the words for 'Poniedzialek
Rano' on the web. I've intended to learn the rest of the Polish words
to this song for most of my life. I learned the chorus from my father.
He told me that the words meant, 'I sling hay, my father slings hay, we
both sling hay together.', and that there was one verse for each day of
the week, and that on Saturday they went out and got drunk, and on Sunday they went to church
[sic]
. The melody is catchy. As a Boy Scout, I would sing this song as I hiked.
It tends to be one of the songs that run in my mind as I walk around doing
other things. I now work as a programmer, and have been sent to Korea
several times. One of the Korean men that I work with asked me about
this song that I was always singing, and would I please write down the
words. This spurred me to do a web search to try to find the right
words, which led me to your site. Thanks! In the library I
found a children's book based on this song, but it only gives an English
translation (no mention of getting drunk). [
Busy Monday Morning
Copyright 1985 by Janina Domanska, Greenwillow Books, New York ISBN
0-688-03833-6; ISBN 0-688-03834-4 (lib. bdg.)]
Thanks again, and best regards..."
Herb Perkins-Frederick, Canberra, Australia, in e-mail to RJB, February 14, 2002 * * * * * "I just saw your rendition of Poniedzialek Rano and it brought tears to my eyes. I am an american of polish decent and we always sang and still sing that song. Though my babcia and dziadziu have passed on, I sing it to my nieces now and they love it... Thank you!" Teresa, in e-mail to RJB, February 10, 2003. * * * * *
"Szanowny Pan RJB:
Jan, in e-mail to RJB, May 2, 2004. [links added Sept. 5, 2015] * * * * *
POLISH HAYING SONG
per Joe Offer, 06 Nov 03 - 04:29 AM,
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63150&messages=17
* * * * * The name of the song is Ojciec i Syn, and can be found on Songs and Dances from Poland by ARC records(cd). per GUEST,polski_chlopiec@msn.com , 09 Jun 04 - 08:31 PM, http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=63150&messages=17 * * * * * * * * * *
Per a copy in braille and English from the
Phoenix Public Library,
Busy Monday Morning
text adapted from
Treasured Polish Folk Rhymes, Songs and Games, translated by the Polanie Editorial Staff, from
Koszalki Opalki
of Zofia Rogoszówna, Copyright
1976 by Polanie Club, Inc., published by Polanie Publishing Company, Minneapolis.
This latter work has been also tracked down and the words and translation above are from pg. 50. The
music
on pg. 51, adapted by Daniel Feigelson, is just a little different than
RJB recalls, but is in the same key. The Glossary is per the
Wiedza Powszechna Polish and English Dictionary, Chicago: National Textbook
Company, 1993. Original copyright 1981 Wiedza Powszechna, Warsaw Poland.
And with the advances of Internet sharing we can now say that a polka version can be seen and heard here, a karaoke version here, and a modern mashup version can be seen and heard here. More versions can be found here. (Of course, all these e-mails and links now add dimensions and range that I never shared/knew back when Grandpa and then Dad sang acapella to us...) |
Anyone else who can supply further details about this folksong
is urged to contact me at
rjb@magiminiland.org.
Bardzo dzi
e
kuj
e.