Joan Baez - Donna Donna video free download

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

How the winds are laughing They laugh with all their might Laugh and laugh the whole day through And half the summer's night

Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don

"Stop complaining", said the farmer Who told you a calf to be? Why don't you have wings to fly with Like the swallow so proud and free?

How the winds are laughing They laugh with all their might Laugh and laugh the whole day through And half the summer's night

Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered Never knowing the reason why But whoever treasures freedom Like the swallow has learned to fly

How the winds are laughing They laugh with all their might Laugh and laugh the whole day through And half the summer's night

Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don Donna, Donna, Donna, Donna Donna, Donna, Donna, Don

Joan Baez ~ DONNA DONNA ~ Joan says: One of the most recent stories about this song is from May, 1989, when I was still in Czechoslovakia, while the Communist government was still well-entrenched. Humanitas International and I had invited some of the leading dissidents to my concert, incuding Vaclav Havel ( who later became the President of Czechlslovkia). Ot was a government-televised concert and police were all over the place. We had people sit with out dissident friends to keep them from being arrested.

"I sang and then invited a banned Slovakian musician to the stage where we got the microphones turned off for the first time. When I introduced Havel, the audience went wild. To close the concert I asked the "legitimate singers who performed before me to sing the encore with me. They were very hesitant, but I was able to persuade them. I hit about two notes of "Donna Donna" when the sound was cut again. But without a microphone in a hall of about 4,000 people we sang "Donna Donna." You could have heard a pin drop. Someone had taken the very serious personal risk of turning off the house music. Even the police were to embarrassed to interrupt and do their job. It was an important moment ------ a big victory. Recorded in concert for CBC Radio Montreal, Canada, 1969.

Original Yiddish1

אויפֿן פֿירל ליגט דאָס קעלבל,

ליגט געבונדן מיט אַ שטריק,

הויך אין הימל פֿליט דאָס שװעלבל,

פֿרײט זיך, דרײט זיך הין און קריק.

לאַכט דער װינט אין קאָרן,

לאַכט און לאַכט און לאַכט,

לאַכט ער אָפּ אַ טאָג, אַ גאַנצן

מיט אַ האַלבער נאַכט.

דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ,

דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאַ,

דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ,

דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאָנאַ, דאַ.

-שרײַט דאָס קעלבל, זאָגט דער פּויער,

?װער־זשע הײסט דיך זײַן אַ קאַלב,

װאָלסט געקענט צו זײַן אַ פֿויגל,

װאָלסט געקענט צו זײַן אַ שװאַלב.

לאכט דער װינט אין קאָרן ......

בידנע קעלבער טוט מען בינדן,

און מען שלעפּט זײ און מען שעכט,

װער ס'האָט פֿליגל, פֿליט אַרױפֿצו,

איז בײַ קײנעם ניט קײן קנעכט.

Translation by Secunda

On a wagon bound and helpless

Lies a calf, who is doomed to die.

High above him flies a swallow

Soaring gaily through the sky.

The wind laughs in the cornfield

Laughs with all his might

Laughs and laughs the whole day through

And half way through the night

Dona, dona, dona, dona,

Dona, dona, dona, do,

Dona, dona, dona, dona,

Dona, dona, dona, do.

Now the calf is softly crying

"Tell me wind, why do you laugh?"

Why can't I fly like the swallow

Why did I have to be a calf,

The wind laughs in the cornfield ...

Calves are born and soon are slaughtered

With no hope of being saved.

Only those with wing like swallow

Will not ever be enslaved.

Translation by Kevess & Schwartz

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.

How the winds are laughing

They laugh with all their might

Laugh and laugh the whole day through

And half the summer's night.

Dona, dona, dona, dona,

Dona, dona, dona, do,

Dona, dona, dona, dona,

Dona, dona, dona, do.

"Stop complaining," said the farmer,

"Who told you a calf to be?

Why don't you have wings to fly with

Like the swallow so proud and free?"

How the winds are laughing ...

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered

Never knowing the reason why.

But whoever treasures freedom,

Like the swallow has learned to fly.