I’ve been singing Ruby to sleep lately. The repertoire so far has included some Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barenaked Ladies, Djordje Balašević (a post for another time) and one of my favourite songs from my childhood: Plow steering board has broken
Here is a video of this particular song being performed by my mom’s cousin’s orchestra:
And for posterity, here are the lyrics with English translations as close as possible for a nonsensical song.
| Зламала ше кормань деска, | Plow steering board has broken, |
| нє пойдземе орац нєшка, | we won’t go plowing today, |
| анї нєшка, анї ютре, по ореме напоютре х2 | not today, not tomorrow, we will plow day after tomorrow x2 |
| Танцовала редква з маком, | Radish danced with a poppy, |
| а петрушка з паштернаком, | and parsley with a celeriac, |
| то цибулька обачела, та и вона подскочела x2 | the onion noticed that, and it jumped in as well x2 |
| Ей цибулько ти нє наша, | Oh, onion you’re not ours, |
| глєдай себе ти пайташа, | look for a friend for yourself, |
| вежнї себе келераба, вон танцує яґод жаба х2 | take yourself a kohlrabi, because it dances as a frog x2 |
| Танцовала нина з нину, | Aunt danced with an aunt, |
| У комори под драбину, | in the cellar under the ladder, |
| Шовґрове ше чудовали, як то вони видумали х2 | all the uncles were wondering, how did they come up with this dance x2 |
| Гей чи грали, чи нє грали, | Did the band play, or it didn’t, |
| лєм дураци танцовали, | only crazy were dancing, |
| мудри очи вищирели, таки танєц нє видзели х2 | smart ones bugged out their eyes, they haven’t seen a dance like this x2 |
There is one more verse, that I haven’t been able to completely recall. It starts off with “Portly danced with a portly one, in the cellar behind the sauerkraut” but I cannot remember the refrain. I guess I’ll have to pick my grandma’s brain.
I love that you sing your daughter to sleep.
For Lily and I it was either The Wheel on the Bus, modified to include everyone we knew — The Cliff on the bus goes Blah Blah Blah — or Blue Moon.
Singing to my kids usually consisted of either The Sunshine Song, or Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Heh “The Cliff on the bus goes Rant Rant Rant..”