Başım Açık Fes De Yok (My Head Is Bare, I Have No Fez)
Story
The song opens with the complaint of someone whose head is bare, who has no voice to call out and no friend to talk to, and who feels a stranger in the village where they live. Through verses carried by the refrain “Hadi hadi yavrum şinanay,” the image of the yemeni (a light printed headscarf) comes to the fore: we hear someone who wants to fold up their headscarf and nestle close to the beloved, who says they have lost their mate, and who leaves the scarf behind asking the other to wipe away their tears. No traditional story behind the song was found in the sources.
About
It is a “kırık hava” (metered folk tune) from the Alaca district of Çorum; according to Türkü Dostları it comes from the Karamahmut quarter of Alacahüyük, and Repertükül gives “Alaca/Karamahmut.” It is registered as TRT Repertoire No. 4404. The source singer is Hasan Arslan; it was collected by the Ankara State Conservatory and set to notation by Altan Demirel (TRT Music Department score sheet, Repertükül). The score sheet gives the region as “Çorum / Alaca - Karamahmut”; its collection date falls in 1939, though the day and month are not legible on the scanned copy. According to Repertükül, it uses the segah scale (makamsal dizi) in 4/4 time.
On Alacahöyük, see Alacahöyük and the Alacahöyük Visitor Guide.
Lyrics
In short, the words voice loneliness in an unfamiliar village with no one to talk to, and a parting in which a headscarf is left behind as a keepsake. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)