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Musical Interlude: Two Russian Songs

This is what the girls back home sang to the Soviet soldiers, back when they marched off to battle the Nazis:

Translation below the cut.

(The version of this same song sung by kawaii anime schoolgirls in Russian tanks trundling over the snow is here: https://youtu.be/7Yl-DvkX0hY)

And this is a melancholy song of a love-cursed cavalryman charging to his death in battle, but failing to find it.

The translation is in the closed captions.

 

Catherine

As the morning mist over the river
Fills the blooming orchards far and wide
And the trees with a morning chill still quiver,
Catherine walks out to the riverside.
She comes singing songs about an eagle
Soaring proudly in the sky above
And the one in the service of his people
Whom young Catherine genuinely loves.
May her songs fly over the valley
Rising high to ring out loud and clear.
May they follow her letters she can’t tally
To that soldier on the far frontier.
He will see her standing by the water.
He will hear her songs from up above.
As he keeps vigil to protect our borders,
His sweet Catherine will preserve their love.
As the morning mist over the river
Fills the blooming orchards far and wide
And the trees with a morning chill still quiver,
Catherine walks out to the riverside.

https://lyricstranslate.com

My comment:

Many Russian folk songs are rich with melancholy while many American songs are bright with hope.

I wonder if part of the difference in national spirit is due to whether the vast sweeps of trackless land beyond one’s borders are filled with virgin woodlands rather than powerful nomadic invaders.

When I was a child, every little boy I knew was a fan of Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett and every little boy wanted to be an Indian just as often as he wanted to be an Indian fighter.

While the modern age calls it compassion to feel the pity mingled with contempt one feels toward a helpless victim toward the American Indian, depicting the brave warriors as pathetic means no little boy wants to be one.

On the other hand, a fallen foe who fought boldly can be honored, if not idolized. You may decide which is the truer form of compassion.

But I would be curious to know from any Russian whether their little boys, in days gone by, daydreamed of being Mongols, Tatars, Vikings, or Teutonic Knights and so on.

About

John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.

October 3, 2019 @ 10:24 pm
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