Aj lučka, lučka široká

"Aj lučka, lučka široká" (English: "Oh the wide, wide field"{{cite web | title=Tancuj, tancuj | website=The Library of Congress | date=2023-09-22 | url=https://www.loc.gov/item/00694085/ | access-date=2024-08-10 | quote= With (reverse side): Aj, lucka lucka siroka (Oh the wide, wide field)}}) is a Czech folk song.{{cite magazine|last=Zavodny |first=Melanie |date=2020-12-28 |title=Czech Folk Song Collection |url=https://issuu.com/spjst/docs/vestnik_2020.12.28 |access-date=2024-08-10 | magazine=Věstník| page=2}} A Slovak equivalent, "Horela lipka, horela" (English: "The lime tree burned, it burned") has the same melody.

The song has been used as a marching song,{{cite web | last=Alford | first=Henry | title=Whiffenpoofs Are Singing for Their Supper | website=The New York Times | date=2013-01-12 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/fashion/whiffenpoofs-are-singing-for-their-supper.html | access-date=2024-08-10}} including by the Czechoslovak Army in the Russian Civil War.{{cite book | last=Barton | first=F. | last2=Novak | first2=J.K. | last3=Leary | first3=J.P. | title=Czech Songs in Texas | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press | series=American Popular Music Series | year=2021 | isbn=978-0-8061-7849-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5FgmEAAAQBAJ&pg=PR9 | access-date=2024-08-10 | page=51}} It notably achieved popularity in Japan under the name "Omakiba wa midori" (English: "Oh, the pasture is green").{{cite web | title=„Horela lipka, horela je originálna slovenská pieseň," vraví japonská profesorka | first=Michal | last=Frank | website=korzar.sme.sk | date=2001-11-08 | url=https://korzar.sme.sk/c/4678539/horela-lipka-horela-je-originalna-slovenska-piesen-vravi-japonska-profesorka.html | language=sk | access-date=2024-08-10}}{{cite web | title=【ピアノソロ JAZZアレンジで弾く 世界のうた 2 】 | website=ピアノソロ JAZZアレンジで弾く 世界のうた 2 - 楽譜 ピアノ | url=https://www.ymm.co.jp/p/detail.php?code=GTP01082062&dm=sl&dso=3&ua=pc | language=ja | access-date=2024-08-10 | quote=おお牧場はみどり Ej Lucka Lucka Zelena}}{{cite journal | last=Freedman | first=Alisa | title=Sesame Street's place in Japan: marketing multicultural New York in cosmopolitan Tokyo | journal=Japan Forum | volume=26 | issue=2 | date=2014-04-03 | issn=0955-5803 | doi=10.1080/09555803.2014.902397 | pages=144–163}} In 1961, it was the first national song broadcast by the Japanese music television show Minna no Uta.{{cite web | title=みんなのうた　おお牧場はみどり｜番組｜NHKアーカイブス | website=NHK | date=2024-04-14 | url=https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/movies/?id=D0009010082_00000 | language=ja | access-date=2024-08-10}} The song was brought to the United States by Czech immigrants, where Japanese pastor and church musician Nakata Ugo came across it and wrote Japanese lyrics.{{cite web | title=「Ｎコンの秋」特集｜番組｜NHKアーカイブス | website=NHK | url=https://www2.nhk.or.jp/archives/articles/?id=C0010282 | language=ja | access-date=2024-08-10}}

"Aj lučka, lučka široká" is the traditional opening song in Yale Whiffenpoofs concerts.{{cite web | title=WHIFFENPOOFS SING OF THEIR CENTENNIAL | website=Hartford Courant | date=2009-01-29 | url=https://www.courant.com/2009/01/29/whiffenpoofs-sing-of-their-centennial/ | access-date=2024-08-10}}{{cite web | last=Stern | first=Scott | title=More Than Just the Music | website=Yale Daily News | date=2011-12-07 | url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2011/12/07/more-than-just-the-music/ | access-date=2024-08-10}} In 2005, United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sang the song to Czech journalists on the steps of The Pentagon.{{cite web | last=Světnička | first=Lubomír | title=Vzpomínka na Rumsfelda, když zpíval česky na schodech Pentagonu | website=iDNES.cz | date=2021-07-02 | url=https://www.idnes.cz/zpravy/nato/rumsfeld-usa-bush-pentagon.A210702_122650_zpr_nato_inc | language=cs | access-date=2024-08-10}}