English title Song about the Towel Writer(s) Andriy Malyshko Language Ukrainian | Published 1958 Composer(s) Platon Maiboroda | |
The Song about the towel-cloth (Ukrainian: Пісня про рушник; Pisnya pro rushnyk) also known as Ridna maty moya (My dear mother) is a popular Ukrainian song based on a poem by Andriy Malyshko as the remembering confession of a lyrical hero where his mother is giving him a towel-cloth as a sign of a life path.
It was set to music by composer Platon Maiboroda (a native of the Poltava Region) for the soundtrack of the 1958 Soviet film Young Years (Ukrainian: Літа молодії). The song was later popularized by Dmytro Hnatyuk, who is most often associated with this song. It has since been sung by such singers as Kvitka Cisyk, Yaroslav Evdokimov, Aleksandr Malinin, Alla Pugacheva, Igor Krutoy, and Renata Babak.
The song is translated in number of languages and is popular within Ukraine as well as the Ukrainian diaspora. It is dedicated to the Motherly Love.
English text lyrics
by Stepan Ludwig Pasicznyk (United Kingdom)
Dearest mother of mine,
Tell me why you aren't sleeping?
Why you woke me to gaze
At the stars up above?
Did you know I was leaving?
Tell me why ... was that why you were grieving,
Was the cloth that you gave me
As a sign of your love?