Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Demon Drink.
Commentary to the song “Such a plumber you haven’t seen for ages...”
The fifth stanza of this song has much in common with the words of Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him: “A great happiness is to be healthy.”
It is also pertinent to give here Marcus Tullius Cicero’s words: “Bona valetudo melior est quam maximae divitiae.” (“Good health is worth more than the greatest wealth.”)
The presented text is adapted from Stas and Margaret Porokhnya and George Tokarev’s translations.