Gidiyorum Çorum'a (I'm Going to Çorum)
Story
The song opens in the voice of a young man on his way to Çorum: a stone strikes his arm, and the arm longs to embrace a “slender-waisted” beloved. In the text given by Repertükül, the second verse links an apple loaded onto a pack with the idiom “belini büke koymak,” which Repertükül explains as leaving someone in a difficult position. The text on Türkü Dostları also includes a refrain addressed to a “sarı kız” (fair-haired girl) and a verse beginning “Sarı kavun dilimi” (a slice of yellow melon). 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, registered as TRT Repertoire No. 3325. The source singer is Berber Ali Ahçı; it was collected by the Ankara State Conservatory and set to notation by Sümer Ezgü (TRT Music Department score sheet, turkuler.com, Repertükül). The score sheet gives the collection date as 6 July 1939. According to Repertükül, it uses the gülizar scale (makamsal dizi).
Repertükül notes that the song’s collection card lists two further source singers, Bektaş Koçuşaklar and Muharrem Koçuşaklar, alongside Berber Ali Ahçı, and that the same man appears on other collection cards as “Berber Ali Bilgin.” The source singer of Evlerinin Önü Yoldur Geçilmez, also on this site, is likewise given as Ali Bilgin or Berber Ali (Bilgin). For more on the district, see Alaca.
Lyrics
In short, a young man on the road to Çorum is struck by a stone and longs to embrace his slender beloved; the following verse teases about having put the girl in a tight spot. (The Turkish opening lines are quoted on the Turkish page; line variants differ between sources.)