Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. In a Faraway Kingdom.
Commentary to the song “There are no more green oak trees...”
This song is a variation on the theme of the prologue to Alexander Pushkin’s poem “Ruslan and Ludmila” (this text is adapted from Walter Arndt, Yevgeny Bonver, Julian Henry Lowenfeld and Irina Zheleznova’s translations):
There’s a green oak by a cove curving, |
The thirty-three strong men are formerly Soviet republics, their former sea tutor, who criticizes everything, is Boris Yeltsin, Flibbertigibbet is Mikhail Gorbachev, and the house burnt by him symbolizes the Soviet Union.
At present, the destruction of the lungs of our planet, the tropical forests, is continuing, and if the existing rates of logging be maintained, they will be completely destroyed in less than a hundred years. As wrote Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, in his article “How to Get Rid of Diseases and Become Healthy”, it would be good for us to recall Krylov’s fable “The Pig under the Oak”.
There is a good fairy tale about the forest, which should be read to all the children — it is Upton Sinclair’s “The Gnomobile”.
It is pertinent to give here a version of Raisa Kudasheva’s song “A fir-tree, green and little...” (this text is partly inspired by Arthur Durando and Irina Popova’s translation):
A fir-tree, green and little, Once grew up in the wood. In summer and in winter, She was in a good mood. In summer and in winter, She was in a good mood. The wind sang her a cradle-song, “Sleep little fir, sleep tight!” The frost with snow bedecked her, It was a pretty sight! The frost with snow bedecked her, It was a pretty sight! At times a trembling hare Was hidden by her arms — He was out of harm’s way there, The hungry wolf went past. He was out of harm’s way there, The hungry wolf went past. And when the harmful insects Came to offend the fir, The pecker, her physician, Was there to safe-guard her. The pecker, her physician, Was there to safe-guard her. Thus she became a slimmish And tall eye-filling tree. With her green merry sisters, She in good concord lived. With her green merry sisters, She in good concord lived. |
Here also comes to mind Eduard Uspensky’s song “Blue Railcar” (this text is adapted from two translations by anonymous authors and Tatiana Avash’s translation):
One by one the minutes slowly slip away, Don’t expect to meet with them once more. We regret a bit that our past can’t stay, But the future’s waiting at the door. Our road leads us through the woods and leas Right to the distant parts where we belong. In the best ahead, each one of us believes, And our blue railcar rolls on and on. Maybe thou’rt angered at someone for naught — The next annal will neutralize that script. Now we a path to new adventures plot, Hey, ye driver, put the train on speed! Our road leads us through the woods and leas Right to the distant parts where we belong. In the best ahead, each one of us believes, And our blue railcar rolls on and on. Our blue railcar runs forward as it sways, The express train’s speeding up ahead. Oh, why’s this day coming to an end, I’m dazed, Wish it’d last the whole year instead! Our road leads us through the woods and leas Right to the distant parts where we belong. In the best ahead, each one of us believes, And our blue railcar rolls on and on. In the best ahead, each one of us believes, And our blue railcar rolls on and on. |
And, of course, it is pertinent to recall here Paul McCartney’s song “Yellow Submarine” (this text is a version):
In the town where I was born, So we sailed up to the sun We all live in a yellow submarine, And our friends are all aboard, We all live in a yellow submarine, (Full speed ahead, Mr. Parker, full speed ahead! As we live a life of ease (a life of ease), We all live in a yellow submarine, We all live in a yellow submarine, |
The song was written in 1967.