What is “Donna, Donna”?

The English “Donna, Donna” — Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz’s translation of the Yiddish “Dona Dona,” which Joan Baez put on her 1960 debut and the folk revival made a standard.

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Donna, Donna

Joan Baez, Arthur Kevess & Teddi Schwartz · 1960

Folk revival

One melody, many lives

History & versions

The English “Donna, Donna” — and ’s translation of the Yiddish “Dona Dona,” which put on her 1960 debut and the folk revival made a standard.

made an English version that did not travel; the words that did are Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz’s, published in Sing Out! in 1953 and revised for their 1956 pamphlet Tumbalalaika. Joan Baez recorded it as “Donna, Donna” on her 1960 Vanguard debut, and the calf became a folk-revival standard — sung at civil-rights gatherings and covered by in 1965. The Yiddish original, and Sholom Secunda’s theater song, is the other catalog page.

Joan Baez, 1960

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Lyrics

English — Kevess & Schwartz

Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz, 1956 — the version Joan Baez recorded as “Donna, Donna”

The refrain repeats after each verse.

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

Refrain

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…

“Stop complaining,” said the farmer

“Who told you a calf to be?

Why don't you have wings to fly away

Like the swallow so proud and free?”

Calves are easily bound and slaughtered

Never knowing the reason why

But whoever treasures freedom

Like the swallow has learned to fly

Source: Wikipedia, “Dona, Dona” (Kevess & Schwartz column)

Lyrics are reproduced briefly for commentary and teaching, with attribution and a link to the source. They are not a substitute for the publisher’s edition.

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