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cnd Tune Req: Hymn to a Fallen Comrade (9) RE: Tune Req: Hymn to a Fallen Comrade 30 Oct 23


Recently, another thread (click) refreshed my search for this song. I have more tools at my disposal now than I did back in 2016 (and quite a few more years of experience) and am proud to say I have found it. It is very very similar to the verses quoted above by guest,redjoy, though there are additional stanzas.

Quoted from the May 30, 1936 edition of Daily Clarion of Toronto, Ontario, "Canada's Leading Labor Paper." This will become unsurprising shortly -- I've largely only seen it used in reference to communists or socialists.

Hymn to a Fallen Comrade

(The favorite song of V. Lenin as it is sung in the Soviet film, THREE WOMEN *. The magnificent male choir is led by Boris Babochkin remembered for his splendid work as "Chapayev" in the Soviet film of that name.)

Translated by JOHN MEYER; Arranged by I. KAPLANSKY

To you who have dreaded in darkness
A dream through centuries rung--
To you who have fallen in darkness,
To you is our melody sung.

REPEAT:
To you who have fallen in darkness,
To you is our melody sung.

You dreamed of a people triumphant
A land that was joyful and free
And staunch you set forth on the Journey
Whose end you were never to see

REPEAT:
And staunch you set forth on the Journey
Whose end you were never to see

You marked the dangers around you;
No fear kept your step from the frey [sic].
You only said: "This way lies freedom!"
And bravely you went on your way..

REPEAT:
You only said: "This way lies freedom!"
And bravely you went on your way.

They cursed you--they beat you in fury--
The[y] left you for dead, in the dawn.
"Go back!" they commanded, but vainly,
For still you went onward... and on...

REPEAT:
"Go back!" they commanded, but vainly,
For still you went onward... and on...

Then, deep in the dank of their dungeons
They left you to languish and rot.
And still there was light in your darkness--
The dream that you never forgot

REPEAT:
And still there was light in your darkness--
The dream that you never forgot

But even the valiant grow weary:
And even the proud bow their head...
Alas now, the brave heart is silent;
The dreamer--the dreamer is dead.

REPEAT:
Alas now, the brave heart is silent;
The dreamer--the dreamer is dead.

But only your poor pieces mortal
Have sunk 'neath the Stygian stream--
Your soul is a stone in the Highway
That leads to the land of your Dream.

REPEAT:
Your soul is a stone in the Highway
That leads to the land of your Dream.

And see now, in millions we're marching,
And swells all triumphant our song!
The Dream is in site for the toilers
And you too are marching along...

REPEAT:
The Dream is in site for the toilers
And you too are marching along...

* The film's original title was PODRUGI, which Wikipedia translates as "Girl Friends." The film came out in February 1936. Still searching for a recording/video of it, but a review on IMDB mentions that all the songs from the score but 3 have never been released, and those only on an obscure 1988 vinyl. And to quote a review on movie review site Letterboxd, "It's a film so inexplicably obscure that no copies exist with English subtitles, despite the fact that the film was a huge USSR hit and made a national icon of its demure star, Yanina Zheymo." I believe the film can be seen here

PS: Do not confuse the movie with FRONTOVYE PODRUGI (Front Line Girl Friends), which was released in 1941 by the same producer.


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