Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Criminal Code.

I’m on the Job.Translated by Akbar Muhammad, partly
adapted from Andrey Kneller’s translation.

I’m on the job and with a knife,
And don’t thou touch me at this time!
Then I as ever go to a mess.
It makes no difference what they say,
All what I’ve gained I drink away,
And I’ll forever walk this way, my friends.
It makes no difference what they say,
All what I’ve gained I drink away,
And I’ll forever walk this way, my friends.

A man comes up to me and says,
“Our life’s too arduous nowadays —
The scums like thee must spend their time in cells.”
I never talk with such odd birds,
And did him in without words,
And I’ll forever do the same, my friends.
I never talk with such odd birds,
And did him in without words,
And I’ll forever do the same, my friends.

If thou’rt just curious what I think —
Thou’rt welcome, friend, let’s have a drink,
And any problem we’ll take up and fix.
But if thou’rt on that odd bird’s path —
The law applies to all of us,
And it’ll forever stay just as it is.
But if thou’rt on that odd bird’s path —
The law applies to all of us,
And it’ll forever stay just as it is.

1961.

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