Re: "Donna Donna"

[Robert Cohen <rlcm17...>]

I think I can shed light on a few of the points (I'm catching up) raised in 
connection with this song (which was indeed written by Aaron Zeitlin with 
music by Secunda).

Teddi Schwartz was (indeed) the co-composer (with Arthur Kevess; I think I 
have the spelling right) of the most well-known translation--i.e. (see 
below), the one sung by Joan Baez.  I *think* it was from her--I met her 
once and asked her about the song--that I learned:

*that Zeitlin (not Secunda, who just wrote the music) appropriated the 
syllable "Dona"--which I believe she told me he intended should be 
pronounced "Dunna," as in "gonna"--to resemble the sound (i.e., vocable) of 
Polish peasants dancing.  That matches what Reyzl was told by her own 
excellent informant; and

*that he--Zeitlin--was amused at all the speculation (beginning, I gather, 
some time ago) regarding the "meaning" of the vocable--esp. in re the 
resemblance/allusion to a name of G*d.  It had no (such) "meaning" at 
all--at least, none that Zeitlin intended.

Now:  How come the whole world--other than on knowledgeable Yiddish 
recordings--sings it "Doe-na Doe-na"?  ("Doe" as in a female deer, etc.)

Well, this *is* the "folk process" at work--but as modifed, substantially, 
by commercial media:  specifically, the phonograph.

When Joan Baez was shown the song--I am almost certain in a printed 
version--by a Boston-area folkie, she evidently decided it should be 
pronounced "Doe-na"--and that's how she said it.

Her first album, on which "Donna Donna" appeared, was the largest-selling LP 
by a woman singer in history to that date (since exceeded by Carole King and 
subsequently by Madonna and who knows now).  Solely, I think, as a result of 
that record--I don't think Bikel really had much to do with it--the song 
went around the world, appearing in countless songsters and collections, 
sung in coffeehouses, at camps and campfires, among adults and teens, etc., 
etc., etc.  (Teddi Schwartz showed me a letter from Joan's office thanking 
her for the translation and advising her that the song was the single most 
requested song of Joan's [!] in Europe.)

So people (other than knowledgeable Yiddishists, mind you, but including a 
lot of them too, when they're singing in adult camps and other 
settings--I've heard them) sing "Doe-na" because that's the way Joan sang 
it.  Purely and simply.

Hope that's illuminating and ties up some loose ends.

--Robert Cohen



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