Translation:

Shevardnadze¹ and Misha² Joke Song 

Panduri,³ play! I am in the mood

Yesterday I broke my leg while turning over a girl

I walked through the country roads and picked peaches

I saw a woman outside, a cradle stood in the doorway

She was singing the child a lullaby with a cackling voice

I called to her and she answered "No -

There are plenty of lady’s men out there like you"

Yes, We will give you our voice, Shevardnadze

While our pants are falling down

You have brought this country to ruin

Hey - How can I vote for you?!

You white fox you, Shevardnadze!

No one will vote for you

You only think of yourself

While robbers and thieves attack us every night

Militia and the police are killing people in the middle of the streets

Hey – How can we vote for you?!

You white fox you, Shevardnadze!

You have ruined our crops

We are but skin and bones

Dogs hunt bones in the streets

Hey – How can we vote for you?!

You white fox you, Shevardnadze!

You f 'ed up Kitovani,4️⃣ then Jaba5️⃣

You f 'ed up Sigua,6️⃣too

I’ve got a good bridle to chain him

And will make him an animal’s feeding rack

If Sigua escapes, you’ll be in a bad situation

Georgia is no longer a suitable place, it is entirely spoiled

Our Georgian women now belong to the world

The world is a hen and we are together, everyone

We brought him back ourselves, our fox

No one can kill the fox

Don’t be persuaded, people

He'd rather kill himself 

If he finds himself ensnared

Nanuli77️⃣will find love again

Shevardnadze escaped from us,

He wiggled through like a fox

They said that Burjanadze8️⃣ is just like you

She is a good flirt

She is a good son of a bitch too,

She knows holes everywhere

You shout Misha, Misha, – Well what can he do?

There is no one for us, all of them are robbers

This Misha of ours, what satisfies him?

He is a hungry wolf.

What can our Misha do? He played a role.

Aslan9 escaped and a dog remained

He was sent by airplane, taken down to Dad

When Aslan9️⃣ heard about this, he laughed

What a good man he was,

Who brought me here to Pashmata

Now let’s ask Pashmata what he complains of to Dad

He left him without a guardian, someone else’s

And again Misha left him without a master,

Sent to his father

¹Eduard Shevardnadze (1928-2014) was a Georgian diplomat and politician.  He served as the First Secretary of the Georgian Communist Party (1972-1985) and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Union (1985-1991). After the fall of the Soviet Union, he was the President of Georgia from 1992-2003 until the Rose Revolution.

²Mikheil Saakashvili served two terms as the President of Georgia from 2004-2013.

³A three-stringed, fretted lute common in all regions of northeastern Georgia. The instrument is most frequently used to accompany ballad singing.  Read more about the panduri here. 

4️⃣Tengiz Kitovani (1938 - ) commanded the National Guard of Georgia in the Civil War of the early 1990’s and served as Defense Minister under Eduard Shevardnadze.

5️⃣Jaba Ioseliani (1926-2003) was the founder and leader of the parliamentary group and political organization, the Mkhedrioni, (or knights), which began in 1989 as Georgia sought independence from the Soviet Union. They gained a bad reputation as violent thugs, and by 1991, they had many more members than the National Guard.

6️⃣Tengiz Sigua (1934 - ) was the Prime Minister of Georgia under Zviad Gamsakhurida until he resigned and became, alongside Tengiz Kotivani and Jaba Ioseliani, the leader of another controversial opposition which launched a violet coup against the government that led to its fall. He later became Eduard Shevardnadze’s Prime Minister.

7️⃣Nanuli Tsagareishvili Shevardnadze (1929-2004) was a Soviet and Georgian journalist and activist, married to the leader of post-Soviet Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze.

8️⃣Nino Burjanadze (1964 – present) served as the head of state twice in Georgia, once during the Rose Revolution and then again wen Mikheil Saakashvili stepped down in 2007-2008 to rerun in early presidential elections. In 2008 she became the leader of the Democratic Movement-United Georgia, and candidate for presidency in 2013.

9️⃣Aslan Abashidze (1938 – present) was the leader of the Ajarian Autonomous Republic from 1991-2004.

Translation:

Valodi Joke Song

I am going to tell you a poem, I will tell you

Or else I will die

But you, in order to commemorate me

Must remain in the world

You are a handsome man, Valodi

With a handsome beard that suits you well

A lover of women, a drinker of wine and araqi¹

Right now a jury 

Wouldn’t be able to sentence you

Girl, genatsvale² to you, your mother, and your father

As I was with my flock in Arkhilo,³ my mom cursed at me:

You should rather be at home kid,

Sleeping with a beautiful woman

With a foot over a foot,

And a woman’s breast in your hand

¹Hard liquor

²A term of endearment

³Short for Arkhilostsqaro, a town in the municipality of Dedoplistsqaro in the Shirakis Valley, where shepherds annually go to in the wintertime to graze their sheep.

Translation:

Soldier's Joke Song

Hey, you Javakhetian,¹ you insatiable sleeper!

The donkeys were dispersed by wolves,

With an accordion and a flute

K’oba pursued them with his barrel gun

Three times in a row he shot,

His gun thundering a lament

A child sacrificed himself

His mother returned, moaning

He is badly wounded, he can’t even make it inside

He needs doctors' hands,

He needs treatment at home

He died tragically, sacrificing his life to the army…

But he argues with master Guram

That he got him in trouble

His entire work and labor, wasted away

I'll tell you a story

That happened fifty-six years:

They called us in, 19-20-year-old boys

You, Valodi Dzidzishvili

You are of that age

And you must go to soldier on, to obey rules

The commander is waiting for you,

At the top of the hill

He’s brought some notes

And inquires about you

I received the note from the army Saturday

And by Sunday I was ready

I bid my parents and relatives goodbye

And they blessed me on my way

We got on the train in Tbilisi

At eleven o’clock

The sound of the wheels started

We travelled for nine days and nights

Until the roofs of Dzerjivski² appeared

We hardly rested, measuring sleep by the minute

When the time came someone shouted loudly

-Hurry up, get up!

¹Someone from Javakheti, a region in southwest Georgia.

²Dzerzhinsk is a city in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, 500 kilometers east of Moscow.

Translation:

Shota Khutsishvili Joke Song

"What is not happening in our economy?"

Laliashvili spat to Svanidze¹

They began to fight and insult one another

They had 100,000 rubles²contraband

They couldn’t split the money and a fight started because of it

Like a director, Karseladze tries to justify it

"100,000 rubles," he wrote by hand

He is experienced, the long-standing wolf

Such an economy - Come, endure it!

Such leadership - Come, endure it!

There is no longer anything left for us to eat

They’ve eaten everything –

The sheep, the cow, the horse

This is a true story, it’s not gossip

This place is adjacent to the township, it’s not gossip

Well, please just this once send us an inspector

If you send Khutsishvili

We will no longer want anything

He will manage this work in no time

He is from Arghuni³

¹Laliashvili, Svanidze, Karseladze: Dzidzishvili is most likely referring to locals here, by their last name.

²Russian currency, used in Georgia during the Soviet Union. The Georgian lari replaced the ruble in 1993, but older generations of Georgians sometimes still refer to money in rubles.

³A village next to Kerena, where Valoda Dzidzishvili lives.

Givi Galegashvili¹Joke Song

The poem is written about you

Givi Galegashvili

What embittered you

At night, when you slept so sweetly?

When you were set up as a director

You got yourself into big trouble

You can’t be a director

You are a soft man

We want the kind of man in this position

Who has experience working
Everyone becomes a wolf

They have ravens in their farms, their cornfields

The party leaders are insatiable pigs

They have consumed everything, 

Even hills praised for their haystacks

And nowadays they shout, hungry

The pigs of our economy

+++

Melt girl, melt girl

Melt girl, Lamara

Just in contemplation of you

I have become good-for-nothing

¹The director of Valoda's collective during communist times.

Translation:

The Barley

Oh, how the barley complains

When it changes color:

If you didn’t want me,

Then why did you plant me?

I will witness the same 

As what you did to me last year:

You didn’t have a combine

And you were experimenting so much that

The worker cut me with a haying scythe 

When we came into contact

And you made a fire on me

Look at what you did --

By my sin, a rock will burn

The flame reaches the sky

What were you thinking, committee?

This is your fault!

You burnt me and then you were happy

You played the tambourine

With your own hands you set me on fire

Tedua and Zaira

She is again a cadre

Our girl – Zaira

I am waiting for the sound of the tambourine 

Or to be burned again

The mechanic justifies himself

A handsome guy, Raul

He doesn’t think, regarding this story

That he is at fault

He has earned a little money

One or two Shaur¹

What does the economist,

Beautiful Lena, say?

She took care of her business well

And she is calm, that fox

She never gives correct answers

Beautiful Lena

Our office workers

Are drinking cognac

If the inspector visits

They offer him a soft chair

Who could the inspector be?

Shota Khutsishvili?

More than all of the workers

He loves the cognac bottle
 

I no longer know where I can go

To seek justice

I visited the trade union

And ingratiated myself

I looked at the head of union

With kind eyes
 

He, too, ignored me

Just look at him!

You bastard, get away from us

Don’t eat our hearts

"Now, why do we need barley?

When we all have money!"

I am again in the field

Miserly, worried to death

I can no longer tell you why it is -

I no longer have reason:

They sew my fields and then don’t want me

At the end, no one takes me

I can no longer tell you anything

I have lost all reason

In the papers they are writing about

The fulfillment of all of these plans

I, the barley, complain of this --

That I have such enemies

¹Russian monetary unit used during the Soviet Union a 5-kopeck coin, equal to one-hundredth of a ruble.

Translation:

Peta Lagazashvili Joke Song

The poem is about the truth

Even if it meets stone or iron

Peta Lagazashvili --

The things that he did!

He follows the sheep on the road

That are heading towards the shepherd's hut

Then drives off in his car

Speeding towards home

He starts the engine well

He knows how to brake, too

He was thinking of selling the lambs

And filling up his pockets

Niko Narimanidze

A shepherd’s staff in his hand

Saw that his own lambs

Were in another’s car
 

-Where are you taking my lambs?

Are you out of your mind?

-We bought them, Peta said,

When we were coming down the road.

Narimanidze jumped on his car

-I would have known

If you bought these lambs

Now you will come to reason,

Narimanidze said.

Soon a car appeared on the Qazbegi read

He went and stopped the car

Which happened to be the border police

Peta Lagazashvili -

Now you are f 'ed

You will no longer use

Your car’s starter or brakes

You will be taken by the police

And your pocket-filling dreams are over

Translation:

The People of Toncha Village¹

My name is Sopiko Rikoteli, I am a beautiful lady

I married into Toncha,

I became their daughter-in-law
 

What can I do? Don’t lie to me --

My husband is rotten!

When we lay down in bed together,

He is always very sleepy
 

Archil Lagashvili, he is naughty

Apparently he liked my pretty figure

He smiled at me, I smiled at him, and he winked
 

Then he took advantage of me --

I couldn’t refuse him

I hugged him with my heart and loved him

But when his wife heard about it, she panicked
 

From that day on, my husband lost it

He left me in front of everyone.

"He abandoned me, he cut me off

What can you do my friend, it is the rule --

You should stand up and leave your husband, too

For he is very strict.

Go find another who will encourage you like a school bell

Who make you forget all about your man

And his slim body."

Well Vano Kherkheladze heard that, too

One day he came and told me that his wife was ill

He promised me so many things

That I went and loved him, too -- I couldn’t refuse him

When his wife heard about it, she too panicked

She came from her village Arghuna²

To our neighborhood and said:

"My Vano has lost his senses

He's exchanged me for Sopiko - He deserted me"

Guram is like a bull in a garden,

He has a dark complexion

He too came and told me that his wife was ill

I had pity on him and his tan face

So I went and loved him, too -- I couldn’t refuse him

I poisoned his wife, she is ill still today

Guram is crazy, too. He is no longer healthy.

Ghvtiso Lagazaan came to me

Like a gluttonous cat

"I love you so much, Sopiko,

Like a ripe pear"
 

Sisauri came over too, like a baby turkey

Sisauri was standing in line

Archil Kokashvili is the farm owner

He came to me in Peta’s car, drunk on wine

"Sopo, I brought you grain, the car is full
My dear, I love your pretty face

More than any other."

"If you love me, my Archil," I said,

"Why haven't you told me yet?"

Sopo invited him home and offered him a chair

Peta waited outside, in sorrow.

¹A nearby village to Kerana, where Valoda lives.

²A nearby village to Kerana, where Valoda lives.

Translation:

Black-eyed Girl

Girl, girl with the black eyes

I sent you a message

Why do you torture me?

Tell me yes or no!

Tell your mother, girl

Don’t make us wait so long

I will buy you beautiful shoes

And boots for your mother

Your father is old

I will give him a handful of rubles¹

¹Russian currency, used in Georgia during the Soviet Union

Shiraki¹ Maria Joke Song

There is one woman in the Shiraki¹

She is the pearl of the whole valley

And since you want to know more,

Here is Maria's story.......

-I pitifully raised

Ten or twelve hens

A black kite ate them all

And I was left with nothing
 

Then I tried the plough

I had one ox

It took him the whole day

To plough ten tracks

Then I planted corn

And herbs came up

I went to look at the field

And it was full of locusts

I jumped into my neighbor's garden

Lowered the fence and

Told the locusts to jump over

Saying, Go go go go

I caught one locust

I played with it like wineskin

It begged me from below

Please let me go -

It is not my fault

I let it go but it turned around and shouted:

You look like a dead dog

I said: Locust, I will F your mother, 

If I catch you again!

¹The Shiraki in southeastern Georgia is an arid valley close to the border of Azerbaijan, where many shepherds take them sheep to graze in the winter.