Yesterday I had a very interesting, if a bit odd conversation with one of my friends. The friend in question is also very interesting, if a bit odd, and I suppose that goes a long way towards explaining her strange musical hobbies. Anyway, she walked up to me, hugged me and said: “I really love your national song!”
Anna’s response: “huh? Come again?”
Friend: “It’s so vibrant and…”
Anna: “You mean, the national anthem of Poland?”
Friend: “And it makes me want to be energetic and proud.”
Anna (mostly to herself): “Are we really having this conversation?”
Friend: “Of course not as proud as the Russian one, but that’s OK, because the Polish one is more… more…”
Anna: “More what?”
Friend: “Hopscotchy.”

And with that she disappeared into her office, humming under her nose what I think was supposed to be “Mazurek Dąbrowskiego.”

Until yesterday, I didn’t even know there were people out there who collected different versions of national anthems from various countries. And until yesterday, I didn’t even think that the Polish anthem was anything special. And not just any special – hopscotchy special.

Of course, she meant the upbeat melody of the lively mazurka that’s our national song. It really does make you want to get up and dance. And it’s because it was meant to be cheerful and uplifting. You see, when it was written back in 1797, two years after the Third Partition of Poland, people were gloomy and depressed. And the soldiers that were serving in the Polish Legions under General Jan Henryk Dąbrowski were even more depressed. So, they needed a happy song to boost their morale and cheer them up. And boy, did they need cheering up. The Polish Legions were part of the French Revolutionary Army, which was led by Napoleon Bonaparte in his conquest of Italy. You get the picture now, right?

So the happy song was needed to remind the soldiers that even though the country of Poland had ceased to exist, the idea of Poland had not. As you can imagine, it soon became a hugely popular patriotic song, and then when Poland did reappear on the map of Europe, the song was officially adopted as the national anthem in 1926.

The lyrics were written by a Polish poet Józef Wybicki. He wasn’t just any poet – he was also a general and a political figure. But you have to admit, the man had a way with words. The lyrics are quite simple, but oddly powerful. I just read the whole thing on the internet, because as most Poles, I only know the first verse by heart.

Don’t worry, I’m not going to sing it, other can do it much, much better. The English translation (based on translations of Davies and Kendall) is below.

Poland has not perished yet
So long as we still live
That which alien force has seized
We at sabrepoint shall retrieve

March, march, Dąbrowski
From Italy to Poland
Let us now rejoin the nation
Under thy command

Cross the Vistula and Warta
And Poles we shall be
We’ve been shown by Bonaparte
Ways to victory

March, march…

Like Czarniecki Poznań regains
Fighting with the Swede,
To free our fatherland from chains
We shall return by sea

March, march…

Father, in tears
Says to his Basia
Just listen, it seems that our people
Are beating the drums

March, march…