Dragostea Din Tei

Lyrics

The best-known lyrics are the repeated line "nu mă, nu mă iei" from the chorus, hence the name "Numa Numa song". "Nu mă, nu mă iei" (literally "not me, not me take") is typically translated as "you just won't take me". The full chorus, which also includes the title of the song, runs:

which translates as:

(You) want to leave but don't want to take me,Don't want to take me, don't want, don't want to take meYour face and the love from the linden trees,Remind me of your eyes.

Background and writing

The song was written and composed by Dan Bălan, and the original version was sung by Bălan, Arsenie Todiraș, and Radu Sârbu. The single was first released in 2003 in Romania, where the group lived and produced at that time, and in the spring of 2004 in most other European countries, where it became a summer hit. In as late as 2006, the song was still in the lower reaches of some Eastern European singles charts.

O-Zone's version was the most popular across Europe, with the exception of Italy, where it was only known by discogoers. A cover version of the song performed by the Romanian singer Haiducii, who released the song in Europe around the same time, was more popular in Italy and Sweden (it reached #1 in the singles charts).

"Dragostea Din Tei" has also inspired a number of parody videos distributed over the Internet, most notably Gary Brolsma's popular "Numa Numa Dance" video in 2004. The "Numa Numa Dance", which first appeared on the flash site Newgrounds.com, has become so notable that it has sparked numerous parodies of the video itself in the United States over the years since 2004.

Overall, the single reached number one in over 27 countries and went on to sell upwards of 8 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

English-language version

The American release of DiscO-Zone features an English version of the song performed by Dan Bălan and Lucas Prata. This version focuses on the "It's me, Picasso" lyric from the original to provide a theme of an artist who has lost his muse. Bălan and Prata performed the English recording of "Dragostea Din Tei" entitled Ma Ya Hi on The Today Show on February 22, 2005. Unlike the original recording, however, this version was not as successful, charting at 72 on the Billboard Charts.

CD single

1. "Dragostea Din Tei" (original Romanian version) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea Din Tei" (DJ Ross radio RMX) — 4:15

CD maxi

1. "Dragostea Din Tei" (original Romanian version) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea Din Tei" (DJ Ross radio RMX) — 4:15
3. "Dragostea Din Tei" (DJ Ross extended RMX) — 6:22
4. "Dragostea Din Tei" (original Italian version) — 3:35
5. "Dragostea Din Tei" (Unu' in the dub mix) — 3:39

Haiducii version

A cover version by Haiducii, with a strong dance impact, was charted at the same time as the original version by O-Zone. Although it had a great success in many countries, including Sweden, Austria and Italy, where it topped the chart, it was less successful than O-Zone's version. Haiducii was later sued by O-Zone for copyright infringement, since she had neither obtained permission from O-Zone to record the single nor given due credit to Dan Bălan for being the original writer of the song.

CD single

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original mix) — 3:35
2. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs. Gabry Ponte radio version) — 3:42
3. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 the radio RMX) — 4:15
4. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs. Gabry Ponte extended version) — 6:30
5. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 The Club RMX) — 6:22

CD maxi

1. "Dragostea din tei" (original mix) — 3:33
2. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs Gabry Ponte radio version) — 3:43
3. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 Radio Mix) — 4:16
4. "Dragostea din tei" (Haiducii vs Gabry Ponte extended version) — 6:32
5. "Dragostea din tei" (DJ Ross 4 club mix) — 6:20
6. "Dragostea din tei" (Potatoheadz club mix) — 6:58
7. "Spring" — 7:16

Charting in other versions

"Le Poulailler" by Le 6/9

"Wenn der Hafer sticht" by Antonia aus Tirol

"Argent Argent" by Cauet featuring Mopral

Americas

A popular video named "Numa Numa" originally posted on Newgrounds features a man named Gary Brolsma performing a lip-sync to the song while dancing. The video soon spread to other social media sites such as YouTube and went viral. Brolsma was named "#1 Internet Celebrity" on VH1's 40 Greatest Internet Superstars which aired on March 23 2007.

In Brazil, singer Latino replaced all the lyrics to create his reviewed version of "Dragostea Din Tei" (the song still resembles the original one in rhythm and melody). Called "Festa no Apê" (Party at the Apartment), talking about a party that's gone "wild".

The song's opening lyrics are sampled in the 2008 song "Live Your Life" performed by T.I. featuring Rihanna. Music of "Live Your Life" is a strong adaptation of the song's basic tune.

In 2011, Hank Azaria covered the song as the character "The Mighty Sven" for the animated film Happy Feet Two.

Europe

A spoof of the song was released by the Romanian metal band Trooper under the name of "Zorzon", as a bonus track on one of their albums.

In Spain, the comedy duo Los Morancos made a spoof version called Marica tú (queer you), also sometimes referred to as "pluma pluma gay" (literally "feather feather gay", meaning "sissy sissy gay"), which contained several references to homosexuality. It became popular in many clubs across Hispanic America.

Hungarian Minisztár released a Dragostea Din Tei music video in 2005.

Portuguese Onda Choc released "Sem Drama Aguardarei" in 2006.

Russian songs "Я её хой" by Professor Lebedinsky with Russkiy Razmer and "Эй, ди-джей, водочки налей" by DJ Slon.

German group ItaloBrothers released a cover of Dragostea Din Tei named My Life Is a Party in 2012.

Asia

In Israel, the song was translated and used as a theme song for the children's show Festigal.

Also in Israel, the music was used by the subgroup of Breslover Hasidim known as Na Nach, following the teachings of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov according to the tradition of Rabbi Yisroel Ber Odesser (called the Saba, or grandfather, by Na Nachs). The song in praise of the rabbi titled "Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman" uses in its best known version the music from the song "Dragostea Din Tei".

An Indonesian version of this song was released by Indonesian group Barakatak with title "Buka-Bukaan" (Open and Open) on 2008.

There are also there versions sung in Mandarin: Singapore's Jocie Kok (郭美美) wrote "Bu Pa Bu Pa" (不怕不怕, "Not Afraid, Not Afraid")., Taiwan's 2moro wrote "Shabu Shabu", and Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) wrote "Lian Ai Feng" (戀愛瘋, "Crazy Love").

In South Korea, Hyun Young, a Korean model/actress/singer, released a Korean version of the song, titled "누나의 꿈" (Nuna-ui Kkum; eng. Sister's Dream) which ranked among the top on various Korean charts in March 2006, within weeks from release.  The song preserves the “ma-ia-hii” and “nu mă, nu mă iei” choruses from the original; however, while the “ma-ia-hii” does not carry any meaning, but is merely used as a rhythmic interjection, the "nu mă iei" is approximated as "누나의" (nuna-ui, often pronounced nuna-e), which means "elder sister's". "Nuna" is also an affectionate title a Korean man calls a woman who is older than he is. The lyrics of Sister's Dream are about a romance between a younger man and an older woman.

In Japan, Gille sampled the "ma-ia-hii" chorus for her debut single "Girls".

Vietnam's Vu Ha, Vietnamese "Người Tình Mai Ya Hee" (Mai Ya Hee, The Lover).

A Japanese version of the song was released by comedian Maeda Ken on August 24, 2005 under the artist name Maeken Trance Project (his drag alter-ego), titled "Koi no Buchiage Tengoku: Koi no Maiahi~Chihuahua~Banzai [2]"(恋のブチアゲ 天国：恋のマイアヒ～チワワ～バンザイ, "Love's High Tension Paradise: Love's Maiahi~Chihuahua~Hurrah"), fusing the original song with popular Japanese Eurobeat song Banzai and part of the 2002 ad Coca-Cola commercial-related hit by DJ Bobo titled "Chihuahua". It should be noted that although this is a Japanese release, the "Dragostea Din Tei" section of the medley is sung in Romanian.

On November 11, 2005 another Japanese version under the same title "Koi no Maiahi" was released on the compilation album of Avex record label artists "Girl's Box ~Best Hits Compilation Winter~" (AVCD-17769) by the singers Hasebe Yu (長谷部優) from girlgroup "dream", Iwasaki Mai (岩崎舞), and Takimoto Miori (瀧本美織) both from girlgroup "SweetS". [3] The group also did a nectar, kamehama-honey and crystal remix of this song.

Africa

A South African version, "Net Die Een Vir My", was sung in Afrikaans by Nicholis Louw and Shine 4.