Dona, Dona

"Dona Dona" popularly known as "Donna, Donna" is a song about a calf being led to slaughter written by Sholom Secunda and Aaron Zeitlin. Originally a Yiddish language song "Dana Dana" (in Yiddish דאַנאַ דאַנאַ), also known as "Dos Kelbl" (in Yiddish דאָס קעלבל meaning "The Calf") it was a song used in a Yiddish play produced by Zeitlin.
History.
"Dana Dana" was written for the Aaron Zeitlin stage production "Esterke" (1940–41) with music composed by Sholom Secunda. The lyrics, score, parts, and associated material are available online in the "Yiddish Theater Digital Archives". The lyric sheet is in typewritten Yiddish and handwritten Yiddish lyrics also appear in the piano score. The text underlay in the score and parts is otherwise romanized in a phonetic transcription that appears oriented toward stage German. The YIVO standardized transliteration system was not then in widespread use, and many Yiddish transliterations looked like German, to which the Yiddish language is closely related.
The orchestra plays the "Dana Dana" melody at several points in "Esterke". The original is 2/4, in G minor for a duo of a man and a woman, choral with the orchestral accompaniment. Secunda wrote "Dana-" for the orchestral score and "Dana Dana" for the vocal scores. The Yiddish text was written with Roman alphabet. He wrote for the choral score "andantino" (somewhat slowly) and "sempre staccato" (play staccato always). The melody of the introduction was also used at the end of the song. He wrote "piu mosso" (more rapidly) for the refrain and some passages that emphasize the winds. First, a woman (Secunda wrote "she") sings four bars and then the man (Secunda wrote "he") sings the next four. They sing together from the refrain. Although singing the third part of "Dana Dana" (="Dana Dana Dana Dana...") the man sometimes sings lower than the melody using disjunct motions. The melody is refrained. Then "he" sings the melody, and "she" sometimes sings "Dana", other times sings "Ah" with a high voice or technical passage. Secunda wrote "molto rit." (suddenly much more slowly) for the ending of the first verse. There are some differences between the original and the melody that are well known. Secunda wrote "ha ha ha" for the choral score with the broken chords.
There are various views as to the meaning of the words 'Dana, dana' in the original Yiddish version of the song, repeated sixteen times in each chorus. The words 'dana, dana' are a common refrain in Polish folk song, heard often in formulas such as 'Oj, dana dana, moja dana'. Some believe it to be a nonsense word, but it may have earlier ritual origins in Polish song or be imitative of musical instruments . Zeitlin, who spent most of his life in the Polish-speaking world before emigrating to the US in 1939, likely took the 'dana' refrain from this source. A comment appearing in the Hebrew newspaper Haaretz (ref https://www.haaretz.co.il/misc/1.1256045), gives the meaning of Dana as the sound that was commonly made by the guide of a horse-drawn cart to encourage the horse to continue to step forward as it drags its heavy load. According to the comment in Haaretz, the translation of the word Dana (from Yiddish to Hebrew) was provided by Kol Israel in 1962, when the song was performed by Nechama Hendel. In the John Camden Hotten slang dictionary, the word Dana related to a nightman's or dustman's cart in old German / Austrian slang. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42108/42108-h/42108-h.htm Incidentally, in Turkish, Azerbaijani and other Turkic languages "dana" means a "weaned calf". 
Versions.
Secunda translated "Dana Dana" into English language (changing the vocalization of 'dana' to 'dona'), but this version didn't gain much attention.
The lyrics were translated once again in the mid-1950s, this time by Arthur Kevess and Teddi Schwartz. This version became especially popular after being recorded in 1960 by Joan Baez for her debut album "Joan Baez". On the album, the song is retitled "Donna, Donna", doubling the "n" while retaining the long "o" pronunciation. A staple for Baez, "Donna, Donna" was used throughout the civil rights protest movement of the 1960s.
In 1964, the song was recorded in French language by French singer Claude François as "Donna, Donna" reaching the top of the French Singles Charts for two consecutive weeks in December 1964. François co-wrote the French lyrics with Vline Buggy. The song also known by its longer title "Donna, Donna (Le Petit Garçon)" is a completely revamped version lyricwise, as it no longer describes a helpless calf being led to its slaughter, as in the original Yiddish version, but is rather about the troubles of an aspiring young boy growing up dreaming about his own future. In the last verse, in an autobiographical twist, Claude François alludes to himself by singing the verse as "ce petit garçon que j'étais" (this small boy that I was...).
Very soon after the Claude François version, the Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan recorded another very popular cover of Baez' version in 1965. The track appeared on his album "What's Bin Did and What's Bin Hid". The title is also "Donna, Donna", thus reinforcing further the popular "Donna" rather than the original transliteration "Dona".
"Dana Dana" has been translated from Yiddish into Hebrew as "Lama Dona" and interpreted by Rika Zaraï. Zaraï went on also to launch a French oriental dance version in her album "Hava".
The song was recorded in many other languages as well including German, French, Swedish, Japanese, Hebrew, Russian, Italian, Catalan and Vietnamese.
In Vietnamese language, the lyrics was translated metaphorically from French version by Trần Tiến, a well-known musician in Vietnam. This version was performed by a girlband name Tam Ca Áo Trắng (Trio of schoolgirls).
There is also a less popular Vietnamese version called "Tiếc thương" (Mourning) that expresses the mourning of a man whose lover died at the young age.
Covers.
The song has been recorded in original Yiddish lyrics amongst others by:
The German folk ensemble Zupfgeigenhansel interpreted it as part of their 1978 album "Jiddische Lieder ('ch Hob Gehert Sogn)" (as "Dos Kelbl" (YouTube video) with lyrics attributed (mistakenly) to Jtschak Katsenelson).
The most famous recordings in the English language include those by Joan Baez and Donovan. But there are also versions by: