VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY (1938-1980)
COSMOS IN MUSIC
When in 1970 I heard that the famous CCR band had released the album entitled “Cosmo’s Factory” I was excited anticipating the first album about space travels. Then I discovered that it had nothing to do with conquering space – Cosmo was just the nickname of one of the band mates. A couple of years before that John Lennon wrote his great “Across the universe” song but it was not about space travels either but rather describing his thoughts meandering through his mind that is as endless as the universe itself.
People started flying into space since April 12, 1961 when the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin first orbited the globe in the first ever flight into space. Then in July, 1969 the American spaceship Apollo 11 brought the first people to the moon. These are two greatest achievements of humankind but surprisingly they were never reflected in any song by any band in the West.
Though Vladimir Vysotsky has filled this emptiness. After his death in his papers there was found the text of the poem “Cosmonaut #1”. It is well-known that Vysotsky once met Yuri Gagarin. Their encounter was brief, just a few minutes. Vysotsky asked Gagarin: “How is it there in space?” Gagarin replied: “Scary like hell”. That was the conversation. However, for Vysotsky it was enough to create the narration of the first space flight (it was written in the mid-1970s the exact date is not known). He never sang it. I have translated the poem not the song lyrics. But Michael Ohlsson, a Swedish musician and vocalist, wrote the music to this text and performed it. Thus in rock music now there is a song about space travels!
Translated by George Tokarev
Performance
Michael Ohlsson
Translated by George Tokarev
© GEORGE TOKAREV 2001
Audio Video
COSMOS IN SONGS