Lyr Add:The Ballad of Stalin (songs about Stalin)

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 May 17 - 09:05 AM

Stalin Wasn't Stallin' by The Golden Gate Quartet.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 May 17 - 05:53 PM

Guest Gerry: Evidently Stalin had his pet Jews. One of my favorite records, for most of my life, has been the Soviet Army Chorus and Band. The first song on it is "Song of Youth" by Isaak Dunayevsky, who (I learn from the jacket & from Wikipedia) was one of the first composers in the USSR to use jazz. Sure enough, there is a jazz bridge in "Song of Youth", and it is a lot of fun. Despite that, and being a Jew, he managed to prosper in the Soviet musical world thruout the whole Stalin era. (Stalin hated jazz.) He must have been talented in more than music.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: GUEST
Date: 17 May 17 - 06:12 AM

Joe F, Soviet Army Chorus and Band, Song of Youth, is on Youtube, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvSRwHpcyw0

The Chad Mitchell Trio recorded this song under the name Maladyozhenaya on their 1962 album Singin' Our Mind.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 17 May 17 - 09:45 PM

Sorry, GUEST immediately above (17 May 17 - 06:12 AM) was me.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: robomatic
Date: 18 May 17 - 11:27 AM

The Stalin Epigram
Osip Mandelstam, 1891 - 1938

Our lives no longer feel ground under them.
At ten paces you can't hear our words.

But whenever there's a snatch of talk
it turns to the Kremlin mountaineer,

the ten thick worms his fingers,
his words like measures of weight,

the huge laughing cockroaches on his top lip,
the glitter of his boot-rims.

Ringed with a scum of chicken-necked bosses
he toys with the tributes of half-men.

One whistles, another meows, a third snivels.
He pokes out his finger and he alone goes boom.

He forges decrees in a line like horseshoes,
One for the groin, one the forehead, temple, eye.

He rolls the executions on his tongue like berries.
He wishes he could hug them like big friends from home.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: Dani
Date: 18 May 17 - 09:01 PM

Here's my favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5s6d9lVRuE

by Robert Wyatt

Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land

So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began

Now the devil, he was readin'
In the good book one day
How that lord created Adam
To walk the righteous way

And it made the devil jealous
He turned green up to his horns
And he swore by things unholy
And he made one of his own

So he packed two suitcases
Full of grief and misery
And he caught the midnight special
Going down to Germany

Then he mixed his lies and hatred
With fire and brimstone
Then the devil sat upon it
That's how Adolf was born

Now Adolf got the notion
That he was the master race
And he swore he'd bring new order
And put mankind in its place

So he set his scheme in motion
And was winnin' everywhere
Until he up and got the notion
For to kick that Russian bear

Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land

So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began

Yes, he kicked that noble Russian
But it wasn't very long
Before Adolf got suspicious
That he had done somethin' wrong

Cause that bear grabbed the fuhrer
And gave him an awful fight
Seventeen months he scrapped the fuhrer
Tooth and claws, day and night

Then that bear smacked the fuhrer
With a mighty armored paw
And Adolf broke all records
Runnin' backwards to Krakow

Then Goebbels sent a message
To the people everywhere
That if they couldn't hit the fuhrer
God, then hit that Russian bear

Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land

So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began

Then this bear called on his buddy
The noble fighting yank
And they sent the fuhrer runnin'
With their ships and planes and tanks

Now the fuhrer's havin' nightmares
Cause the fuhrer knows darn well
That the devil's done wrote welcome
On his residence in hell

Stalin wasn't stallin'
When he told the beast of Berlin
That they'd never rest contented
Till they had driven him from the land

So he called the yanks and English
And proceeded to extinguish
The fuhrer and its vermin
This is how it all began

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: robomatic
Date: 18 May 17 - 10:06 PM

"Stalin wasn't Stallin" was written in 1943 by Willie Johnson and originally recorded by the a cappella gospel group Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (of which Johnson was a member) in 1943. Robert Wyatt recorded it in 1980 as a gentle reminder of the selective memory of some of us.

Of course it ignores the fact that Stalin started WWII WITH Hitler as an ally. Vermin in lock step with vermin.

And of course, the week of total inactivity when Stalin froze in reaction to the German invasion of the U.S.S.R. in June 1941. Stalin stalled in a major way and the Soviets lost thousands of square miles of territory.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: The Sandman
Date: 24 May 17 - 01:50 PM

"Of course it ignores the fact that Stalin started WWII WITH Hitler as an ally. Vermin in lock step with vermin."
PLEASE RECHECK YOUR FACTS, STALIN DID NOT START WORLD WAR 2. NEITHER WAS HE AN ALLY HE SIGNED A NON AGRESSION PACT, that is a different thing altogether

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: robomatic
Date: 24 May 17 - 05:32 PM

Dear Sandman:

Methinks the Poles would disagree!

My father remembers how the American Communist Party was against American involvement in European affairs (in sync with the America Firsters). Then along comes June 1941, Germany invaded Russia and the next day the leader of the American Communist Party demanded the U.S. get into the War. Naw, no 'collusion' then, folks, nothing to see, move along!

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: PHJim
Date: 25 May 17 - 02:06 AM

When I was in boy scouts we used to sing a song about Joe Stalin around the campfire. It went to the tune of Viva La Compagnie.

Viva le, viva le, viva le Joe
Viva le, viva le, viva le Joe
Viva le Joe, Viva le Joe,
Viva le Joe Stalin

Yuri Gagarin our cosmonaut
Viva le Joe Stalin
We put him up on our very first shot
Viva le Joe Stalin

Come all you communists let us unite
Viva. . .
We will make you our satellite
Viva. . .

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 25 May 17 - 03:39 AM

Robo
If you cast your mind back (or read it up) you will find that back then, the world was in total confusion, about both Stalin and Hitler
I used to have a photograph of me as a child sitting at a table at a street party in Liverpool, with a banner draped behind me reading "Good old Uncle Joe" - in those days Stalin was a hero to all, not just the Communist Party -
Russia sacrificed more than any other nation in the fight against Hitler in W.W.2 - 20,000,000 died.
On the other hand, world leaders, British and America included, were more than happy to watch the rise of fascism without intervention - they regarded "New Germany as a bulwark against Bolshevism", the result being a holocast which claimed around 12 million systematically murdered people, Jews, Gypsies, Russians, Poles, Trades Unionists, people regarded as a mental and physical liablity ...... anybody who didn't fit into the "new Germany" we were all happy to support
When my father returned from being a prisoner of war in Spain, where he had gone when he saw what was happening to Jews and others in the "New Germany" our leaders were happy to throw their weight behind, he was rewarded with an MI5 record as a "premature anti-fascist", blacklisted from work and excommunicated from his church - he couldn't get a job and was forced to become a navvy - British support for "New Germany" was still resonating with me and my family right into my early teens.
Stalin's crimes were not fully known until Khrushchev began to outline them in 1956 - many millions of people throughout the world regarded them as a product of political infighting propaganda.
It's all too often forgotten by people who use Stalin as an argument not to change society for the better that the left was as much his victim as anybody else who got in his way   
Songs like 'The Ballad of Stalin' were written in the period when everybody seeking a decent future for the world looked on the man as 'the leader of the world's first workers' state' and regarded many of the excesses taking place as 'breaking eggs to make an omelette for a better society' - a necessary sacrifice.
I was in the Soviet Union in the mid 1960s, where they still talked proudly about the magnificent sacrifice made by the Soviet People and described WW2 as "The Great Patriotic War" - this was in ordinary conversation - not government propaganda
I do wish people would put these songs into context before they use them as a continuation of The Cold War
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: The Sandman
Date: 25 May 17 - 05:58 AM

well posted Jim

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: robomatic
Date: 25 May 17 - 10:20 PM

Song: Comrade Stalin, by Vladimir Vysotsky
(English Translation Below)

Товарищ Сталин - Вы большой ученый,
Языкознаний познавший толк,
А я простой совейский заключенный
И мой товарищ - серый Брянский волк.
А я простой совейский заключенный
И мой товарищ - серый Брянский волк.

За что сижу, по совести, не знаю,
Но прокуроры, видимо, правы.
И так сижу я в Туруханском крае,
Где при царе бывали в ссылке Вы.
И так сижу я в Туруханском крае,
Где при царе бывали в ссылке Вы.

И вот сижу я в Туруханском крае,
Где конвоиры строги и грубы,
Я это все, конечно, понимаю,
Как обостренье классовой борьбы.
Я это все, конечно, понимаю,
Как обостренье классовой борьбы.

То дождь, то снег, то мошкара над нами,
А мы в тайге с утра и до утра,
Вы здесь из искры раздували пламя,
Спасибо Вам, я греюсь у костра.
Вы здесь из искры раздували пламя,
Спасибо Вам, я греюсь у костра.

Я вижу Вас, как Вы в партийной кепке
И в кителе идете на парад,
Мы рубим лес, и Сталинские щепки,
Как раньше, во все стороны летят.
Мы рубим лес, и Сталинские щепки,
Как раньше, во все стороны летят.

Вчера мы хоронили двух марксистов,
Мы их не накрывали кумачом.
Один из них был правым уклонистом,
Второй, как оказалось, ни при чем.
Один из них был правым уклонистом,
Второй, как оказалось, ни при чем.

Живите ж тыщу лет, товарищ Сталин,
И как бы трудно не было бы мне
Я знаю будет много чугуна и стали
На душу населения в стране.
Я знаю будет много чугуна и стали
На душу населения в стране.

English Translation

Comrade Stalin, you are a great scientist,
you know the sense of language science
And I am a simple Soviet prisoner,
And a grey wolf of Briansk is my friend.
And I am a simple Soviet prisoner,
And a grey wolf of Briansk is my friend.

I honestly do not know why I am in the prison
But prosecutors are possibly right,
So I am in the Turukhan region
You have been there in exile in the tsarist times
So I am in the Turukhan region
You have been there in exile in the tsarist times.

So I am in the Turukhan region,
Where the escorts are severe and rude
I understand all this, for sure
As a sharpening of class struggle.
I understand all this, for sure
As a sharpening of class struggle.

Rain or snow, or midges above us
And we are in taiga from one morning to another
You started the flame from the sparkle here
Thank you, I can warm my hands at this camp fire.
You started the flame from the sparkle here
Thank you, I can warm my hands at this camp fire.

I see you, how you go to the parade
wearing your party cap and tunic,
We cut the trees down, and Stalin's splintes
Fly in every direction, as it was before.
We cut the trees down, and Stalin's splintes
Fly in every direction, as it was before.

Yesterday we buried two marxists
We didn't cover them with the red bunting.
One of them was the Right deviationist,
the second one, as it appeared later, had nothing to do with it.
One of them was the Right deviationist,
the second one, as it appeared later, had nothing to do with it.

Comrade Stalin, live one thousand years
And no matter how hard it would be for me,
I know that there will be a lot of cast iron and steel
per head in the country.
I know that there will be a lot of cast iron and steel
per head in the country.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: voyager
Date: 26 May 17 - 12:01 PM

rubbish

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 27 May 17 - 09:04 PM

Vyssotsky was NOT rubbish. One heck of a singer, whether you agreed with his ideas or not.

Subject: RE: ADD:The Ballad of Stalin (and other Stalin songs)
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 28 May 17 - 03:30 AM

WISH SOMEONE WOULD GIVE ME A WIKI ENTRY LIKE THIS
The translation may not appeal to our Western ears, but I've heard similar or far worse from 'The Last Night of the Proms' crowds, or been forced to sing them at school assemblies
As an ardent cinema-goer from early days, I was expected to stand up and sing similar or worse before I shuffled off into the night - and the crowned, bejeweled lady I was asked to sing about wasn't head of a government trying to build a new world for all
Jim Carroll

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