Vysotsky: Translations: Maya Jouravel.

Vladimir Vysotsky: Songs: Trans. by Maya Jouravel

Vysotsky's Lyrics: Translation by Maya Jouravel

Ballad about love
The fastidious horses
Here old redwood branches tremble in the high winds...
Our sons must leave for the war

Source: Speaking In Tongues
All the rights are protected. Contact the author: journomorsky@yahoo.com

Ballad about love
Russian title: Ballada o liubvi

When, after all, the great deluge was over,
The seas came back within their coastal lines,
Out of the foam of the receding water
The love came out softly to the land.
And, for some time, it faded in the air,
And lasted for an eon and some then.
 
And some eccentrics that still do exist
Inhale with their full lungs that crazy mix,
Expecting neither scolding nor reward,
And thinking they are free to breath it in
They realize one day that they fit in
Somebody else's intermittent breathing.

But remember: a feeling's like a boat
It's afloat until you realize: 
That the words "I love" mean simply that
"I can breathe" and "I am still alive".

There will be plenty of despair and roaming.
The land of love is the most noble land.
The knights of love will have to go through testing
With ever higher standards and demands.
They will be separated by a distance,
Devoid of leisure, sleep without rest.

But nothing in the world can turn them back.
Those madmen do agree to pay it back,
Pay any price, their lives won't be excepted
In order to preserve and to protect
Some indiscernible and magic thread
Which love between them now has extended.

Wind and snow swept them off their feet,
Made them drunk and raised them from the dead.
'Cause remember you have neither lived,
Nor have breathed, if you have never loved.

And most of them have choked with love forever.
They can't be reached no matter what you do.
They are accounted by idle talk and rumor,
And that account is laced with pure blood.
But we will light up candles in the memory
Of those who died from the unprecedented love.

Their souls, among the flowers, will run 
And their voices will blend and sound as one.
They will inhale eternity together.
And somewhere, on a fragile river cross,
A narrow bridge across the universe
Holding their breath, they will meet each other.

I will open fields to those who love!
Let them sing awake and in their rest.
I do breathe and that means I'm in love.
I'm in love and that means I exist.

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* * *
Russian title: Liricheskaia

Here old redwood branches tremble in the high winds,
Here birds' chirping sounds so anxious.
You live in the wilderness spelled by a whim
From which an escape would be hopeless...
Let the bird cherry tree, like old sheets, wither down,
Let the lilac's leaves fall off like raindrops.
I will take you away from your hide-away town
To the palace with the music of reed pipes!

Your land, by the sorcerer's hidden away,
From anyone's glancing, for ages.
You fancy your forest the best place to stay -
Enchanted, inspiring, gorgeous.
Let the moon be at odds with the overcast sky,
Let the leaves have no dew at this hour.
All the same, from this wood, I will take you away
To an oceanfront fairytale tower.

Which day of the week and which glorious hour
Will you come to me from your hiding?
Then I'll carry you far away in my arms
To a place, where no one will find you.
I'll abduct you, if you would prefer it this way,
Didn't I squander my life, vain and reckless?
Please consent to the happiness under the sky,
Should there be no tower or palace.

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The fastidious horses
Russian title: Koni priveredlivye

By the cliff, along the precipice, right over deadly ground,
With the whip, I strike my steeds; strike them hard to urge them forward.
I am getting short on air, gulp the haze, drink the wind, yet
With a fatal rapture, sensing: I am done for, I am done for!

Slow down a bit my horses, slow down, please!
Don't you listen to my stinging thong!
But the horses -- just my luck! -- are so hard to please!
Neither lived I so long, nor will I finish this song...
I will let horses drink, I'll complete this refrain,
Just a little bit more I will stay on the brink...
 
I will vanish from the Earth, swept by a storm like fluffy feather;
At a gallop, in the morning by the snow they'll drag me over 
Can't you please prolong my journey to the end of my tether? 
Can't you ease your dash, my horses, carry on a little slower?
 
Slow down a bit my horses, slow down, please!
Don't take orders from my whip and thong!
But the horses -- just my luck! -- are so hard to please!
Neither lived I so long, nor will I finish this song...
I will let horses drink, I'll complete this refrain,
Just a little bit more I will stay on the brink...
 
Just on time - one can't be late arriving at God's quarters!
Why do the angels over there sound like some nasty mortals?
Or, perhaps, it's just a sleigh-bell that's gone mad and burst out sobbing,
Or it's me shouting at my steeds to slow down my sled from dashing.

Slow down a bit my horses, slow down, please!
I am begging you, don't rush along!
But the horses -- just my luck! -- are so hard to please!
Since I haven't lived long, let me finish this song...
I will let horses drink, I'll complete this refrain,
Just a little bit more I will stay on the brink...

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Our sons must leave for the war
Russian title: Synov'ia uhodiat v boj

There will be no heartbeat, no heart throb today
Those things are for the flower gardens.
The lead's in my chest - I am passing away,
It crosses my mind, swift and ardent:

No coming back this time, I'm downed.
Somebody else will set the score.
We had no chance; we had no chance to look around -
And our sons, and our sons must leave for the war.

He thought: "I don't care. Let all hell just break loose!"
And marched from his trench to the abyss.
I stepped out of mine for the opposite reason -
I cared for the world of survivors.

Before I know, my eyes shut down,
And soon, I will embrace the earth,
We had no chance; we had no chance to turn around -
And our sons, and our sons must leave for the war.

In time for an attack, who is filling my spot?
The coveted bridge, who will reach it?
And deep in my heart, I had wished for that lad
Who hasn't grown into to his trench coat.

I smiled before I hit the ground.
I know who will set the score
We had no chance; we had no chance to turn around -
And our sons, and our sons must leave for the war.

Explosions have silenced our heartbeat tonight,
But pounded mine with new meaning
That end of me isn't a final one yet -
It's somebody else's beginning.

Before I know my eyes shut down.
I will embrace my earth no more.
We had no chance; we had no chance to turn around -
And our sons, and our sons must leave for the war.

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