Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. Who For What Runs.

Text.

Commentary to the song “Who For What Runs”.

Here is stanza 20:

The first won’t swallow down the tasty piece, The second won’t put on the laurel wreath, And will be bound the third To go to the reserve.

These four runners symbolize the four major religions of the world — Judaism, Chris­ti­an­i­ty, Bud­dhism and Islam. The fact that the fourth runner threw off his jersey at the finish re­lates to Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him.

Here are the final lines:

The shoulders are apart the shoulder-bones — The four titleholders are just flying forth!

The song was written in 1974.

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