Creepy Hungarian folk songs... Are you up to it?

What is the weirdest and creepiest thing about Hungarian folk songs?

Recently I have had the interesting time over Skype, of starting to reminisce about old Hungarian folk songs with my mom.
We looked up several songs' lyrics, and sang those we remembered. Let me insert here, that the little time delay between us (she's in Canada, I'm in Texas) over the headset made for some very interesting sounding songs at times.

After we sang the 3rd or 4th song, we realized something completely weird and fascinating:
All the songs we've sang so far were depressing as hell!
We went back on our list and re-read the lyrics, paying special attention to the moods, tunes, lyrics and their meanings.
We ended up searching for at least one single Hungarian folk song that didn't make you feel like life was a big pool of darkness, and after reading approximately 70-80 song lyrics, we found ONE.
How ecstatic.

Let me show you a few of these song lyrics, and maybe you will realize why Hungarians might seem depressed to the rest of the world…
No small wonder. After hundreds of years of singing such songs, it's bound to get to ya.

Here is the first song in Hungarian, and the translation under each verse in parentheses:

Házunk elõtt, kedves édesanyám
(In front of our house, my dear mother):

Házunk elõtt, kedves édesanyám, van egy magas eperfa.
Alá állok, kedves édesanyám, hogy ne ázzak alatta.
Csipkés annak a levele, sej, de jó szagú,
Egy legényért, kedves édes anyám, sose leszek szomorú.
(In front of our house, my dear mother, there is a tall berry tree
I stand under it, my dear mother, so I won't get soaked under it.
Lacey are the leaves, yeah, it smells so good
For a man, my dear mother, I will never be sad for.)

Not too bad right? Not exactly happy, but I see no problem.
Oh wait, there is a second verse, let's see that one.

Házunk elõtt, kedves édesanyám, folyik el a halastó,
Azon úszik, kedves édesanyám egy fekete koporsó.
Néha-néha kilátszik a csipkés szemfedél,
Rá van írva, kedves édesanyám, de hiába neveltél!
(In front of our house, my dear mother, flows the fish-lake
On it swims, my dear mother, a black coffin.
Now and then, the lacy pall shows [pall is the item they put over the dead person's eyes]
On it is written, my dear mother, you raised me for nothing!)

"What on god's damn earth is wrong with you?" – you might think. Well, that's what I thought, after I laughed my butt off.
But it can't be all that bad, can it? Let's look at another one real quick.

Este van már, késõ este
(It's night time, late night)

Este van már, késõ este,
Pásztortüzek égnek messze.
Messze, messze, más határon,
Az alföldi rónaságon.
(It's night time, late night,
Shepherd's fires are burning far away.
Far, far away on another land,
On the lowland plains)

Ok, so no problems here either…
Ooh lookie, another second verse….

A faluban minden csendes,
Még az éjmadár sem repdes,
Nyugodalom lakik benne,
Mintha temetokert lenne.
(Everything is quiet in the village
Not even the night bird flies
Stillness lives in it
As if it's a graveyard.

See the trend? They lull you into a sense of false security with the first verse, then BAM drop the weights into the abyss and you realize it too late that you're going with it.

So as we were searching through song after song, we realized there is a common theme:
In the songs they either lose somebody, somebody loses them, something happens that prevents two lovers from being together, marriage sucks, had to enlist as a soldier, someone killed them, or they killed themselves.
Here is another one of my favorite sneaky ones…

Által mennék én a Tiszán ladikon, ladikon, de ladikon.
Ott lakik a, ott lakik a galambom, ott lakik a galambom,
Ott lakik a városban, a harmadik utcában,
Piros rózsa, kék nefelejcs, ibolya virít az ablakában.
(I'd go across the River Tisza, on a barge, on a barge, barge.
There lives, there lives my little dove, there lives my dove,
There she lives in the town, on the third street
Red roses, blue forget-me-not's, violets are in her window.)

Trallala, cute little song, isn't it.
*sigh* Another 2nd verse… Wanna read it? Take a deep breath before you do.


Által mennék én a Tiszán, nem merek, nem merek, de nem merek.
Attól félek, hogy a Tiszába esek, hogy a Tiszába esek.
Lovam hátán, seje haj, félrefordul a nyereg;
A Tiszának habjai közt elveszek, a babámé nem leszek.
(I'd go across the River Tisza, but I don't dare to, don't dare, don't dare.
I'm scared that I'd fall into the Tisza, that I'd fall in.
On the back of my horse, the saddle slides to the side;
I get lost amidst the froths of the river, I won't be my babe's anymore.)

Don't ask me why he tried to cross that river on a horseback rather than a barge when he was scared of it anyways...

So yes… From your girlfriend falling off her horse and breaking her arms, thus her inability to hug you  (apparently that means that you can't be with each other, go figure) to young men being locked into a soldier's camp (from which there are no escape and so they can't see their mothers ever again), there is just no end to the suffering.

Now that we're at it, even Hungarian tales end on a downer note.
You know how in English the last words of a tale are "and they lived happily ever after"?
Hungarians found it necessary to add a little extra to it "and they lived happily ever after, until they died".
Good night my baby, don't have nightmares now, you hear?

Despite all this, little kids don't give a hoot about it all. They sing the songs for the tunes, and they listen to the stories for their content and meaning. It's natural for them to hear "until they died" at the end of each story. That's the way it is.

Oh and the one single song we found to be happy, you ask?
Here it goes (and don't blame me if it makes no sense to you, it seems Hungarians are not keen on using their wonderful language's possibilities when it comes to something happy):

Virágéknál ég a világ,
Sütik már a rántott békát.
Zimmezum, zimmezum,
Recefice bum-bum-bum.
(The light is shining at Virag's,
They're frying the breaded frog.
Trallalallalaa, etc etc.)

Bíró Marcsa odakapott,
Békacombot ropogtatott.
Zimmezum, zimmezum,
Recefice bum-bum-bum.
(Martha Biro grabbed one,
Was crunching on a frog's thigh.
Tarllalallalaa, etc etc.)


Puskás Gábor késõn futott,
Neki csak a füle jutott.
Zimmezum, zimmezum,
Recefice bum-bum-bum.
(Gabor Puskas was running late,
He only got the ear of it.
Trallalallalaa, etc etc.)

It's a very upbeat and happy little song, a favorite in kindergardens.
Although the prospect of crunching on a frog's thigh is a bit disturbing, it's a regular sunshine compared to the other choices in the bunch.

Now go eat a big box of chocolates, and feel better!