The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #47852 Message #2175219
Posted By: Newport Boy
20-Oct-07 - 08:33 AM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chords Req: Russian Folk Songs
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Russian Folk Songs
Thanks Joe, for the link to the collection of Russian Songs.
I have a couple of books of Russian songs, and I'll go through them soon to see if I can add to the list.
I looked at one of my favourites (the only one I've continued to sing since we travelled in USSR 30 years ago) - Cossack Lullaby. The version I had originally was only the first 4 verses of the full version printed, and I only had the Russian. I spent a long while making a very rough translation, before finding out that the full lyrics were a poem by Mikhail Lermontov (1814-41). I found the full version in "The Heritage of Russian Verse" Ed. Dimitri Obolensky, Indiana University Press, 1976. This was originally published as "The Penguin Book of Russian Verse" in 1962.
The Russian text has one minor difference from the version in the collection, but the translation is very different. The collection translation is very poetical and is a typical mother's lullaby. The Obolensky translation is in prose, and is much closer to the feel of a Cossack song. (My own poor effort on 4 verses was similar).
For what it's worth, here is the translation. (The original poem has only 6 verses, split in the song version)
COSSACK LULLABY
Sleep, my lovely baby, lullaby.
Quietly the bright moon looks into your cradle.
I shall tell you stories, and sing you a song;
So shut your little eyes and doze, lullaby.
The Terek is flowing over the stones, its turbid waves lapping;
The wicked Chechen creeps up the river bank, and sharpens his dagger;
But your father is a veteran warrior, tried in battle;
Sleep my baby, have no fear, lullaby.
The time will come - you will get to know for yourself the soldier's way of life;
Boldly you will put your foot into the stirrup and take up your gun.
I shall embroider your war saddle with silk....
Sleep, my darling child, lullaby.
You will be a fine fellow to look at and a Cossack at heart.
I shall come out to see you off, and you will wave goodbye.
How many bitter tears I shall shed that night in secret!
Sleep my angel, quietly, sweetly, lullaby.
I shall pine and wait for you disconsolately;
I shall pray the whole day long, and try to foretell the future at night;
I shall think that you are fretting in a foreign land....
So sleep, while you know no care, lullaby.
I shall give you a little holy icon for your journey;
Put it before you when you pray to God;
And, when you prepare for a dangerous battle, remember your mother....
Sleep my lovely baby, lullaby.
No wishy-washy lullaby, this. She knows he is born to be a warrior. The Terek is a river, and we all know about the wicked Chechen - one of the Cossack's long-time enemies.
Phil