In the middle of this seven-stanza song stand three stanzas of curses, one after another. The singer wishes on an unnamed "muhannet" that he may crawl on his face, that bloody tears may run from his eyes, that his food may never cook on his fire; then the words suddenly soften and move to the portrait of a kohl-eyed beauty milking a cow, and at the very end to the lament of a heart weary of exile. The only known publication of the words is online: the region field reads Amasya and the words-and-music field reads anonymous; the source performer and the collector are unknown.

Catalogue Data

  • Repertoire no.: none; not found in TRT's Amasya list
  • Region: Amasya
  • Source performer, collector, transcriber: not stated
  • Place and date of collection: unknown
  • Mode (makam), metre: not published
  • Words and music: anonymous
  • Links: no TRT link; the words are on Türkü Yurdu

Lyrics

Suya gider şu derenin özüne
Doya doya bakamadım yüzüne
Bağlarsan poşuyu püsküllü bağla
Bir dökülsün ikimizin yüzüne

Mendilimin ucu gök ela boncuk
Dilinden asılsın enikli kancık
Kolların top olsun yüzün yılancık
Yüzün üstü sürünesin muhannet

Kapunuzun önü çakıl taş olsun
Gözünüzden akan kanlı yaş olsun
Elin doldu kucacığın boş olsun
El elinde görüküp yerinesin muhannet

Ateşin yansında aşın pişmesin
Genç yaşında bir bebeğin düşmesin
Ehli islam mezarını kazmasın
İtler yesin üleşini Eminem

Ambarın kolunda hamur kesiyor
Al yanaklar efül efül esiyor
Yokladım defteri suçu yokimiş
O yar bana ne deyipte küsüyor

Oturmuş sürmelim inek sağıyor
Tombul memeleri süte değiyor
Mor menekşe gibi boynunu eğiyor
Şöyle bir güzelin derdi var bende

Ölmeden de deli gönül ölmeden
Ben usandım gurbet elde yelmeden
Gurbet elde padişahlık sürmeden
Yar yanunda köle durmak iyidir

The first stanza sends the beloved down to the water at the bottom of the stream; the singer has not been able to gaze his fill at her face and asks her to tie her headscarf (poşu) with tassels, so that the tassels may fall over both their faces. In the stanzas of curses "muhannet" means base, faithless; "yılancık" is the popular name of an infectious disease that causes redness and swelling of the skin, and "üleş" means share. The fourth stanza closes on a word the published text writes as "Eminem"; whether it stands for a woman's name, "Emine'm", my Emine, or for some other misread word cannot be made out from the text. In the fifth stanza the singer, having checked the ledger and found the beloved blameless, asks why she is sulking; "efül efül" means gently, softly. The last stanza prefers serving as a slave beside the beloved to reigning as a king in exile: "yelmek" means to run, to rush about.

Story

Whom the curses are aimed at, whether the beloved or someone who came between them is the one called muhannet, cannot be inferred from the words. How the song arose was never written down either; whether the stanzas were sung around a single event or came together later is unknown.

Musical Features

With no notation and no stated metre, the melody itself cannot be described. Eleven syllables is the usual line length; the third stanza's final line stretches to fourteen. The second and third stanzas end with the same word, "muhannet", and in the fourth stanza "Eminem" comes in the same position. In the last three stanzas this repetition disappears and the lines rhyme first on verbs ending in "-yor", then on "-meden".

Performers and Recordings

No singer or sound recording could be identified, and the site that publishes the song names no performer. For general context: The Melody of Yeşilırmak.

Bibliography

Online sources