The Deems Taylor translation was the one I was referring to that gave a different spin, but as it's under copyright, I didn't want to quote it. Given its early date and the dual-language texts, we can rule out a Soviet reworking, making the great liberties taken in the translation all the more disconcerting.

But at least the rewriting wasn't as drastic as in the supposedly educational Silver-Burdett songsters, where translations beyond the first verse seem to have been pulled out of thin air. "Let's reinvent everyone's culture, like we've done with cowboys and pirates...."