AAudio Video
VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY (1938-1980)
FAIRY TALES IN SONG
Practically every single song written by Vladimir Vysotsky has several layers of meanings and insights. A fairy tale may hide a bitter political message, a song about an animal may secretly depict a rebel and so on. Vysotsky used to say that if a song doesn’t have a hidden major message then it is not worth writing at all. Here goes my translation of such a song. On the outward surface it is about geologists seeking oil in Siberia. But in the bottom of the song’s heart we can see a moral compass that each of us should be guided by in our lives. The English version is performed by Greg Taylor (USA).
FOG IN THE TAIGA
Miracles hide in the foggy infinity,
You cannot reach them, whatever you plan.
Twice we have failed, but God’s fond of the Trinity
Thus, for the third time we’ll go again.
Keep on repeating when troubles you face,
Cracking and breaking from overload:
“When in the fog you must not lose your road!
When in the fog you must not lose your faith!”
Fog in the past gave us help and security,
Our tracks from the chase it concealed.
Now we need no misty obscurity,
Now the taiga no more shall be sealed
Cradled by silence, the taiga sleeps soundly,
Wonderful secrets below its soil.
Fog, as a sentinel, watches this boundless
Wilderness pregnant with gas and with oil!
Shall we continue or is it already late?
Can we break through in a desperate try?
Go ahead! – From the warmth people radiate
Even thick fog fades away in the sky!
Keep on repeating when troubles you face,
Cracking and breaking from overload:
“When in the fog you must not lose your road!
When in the fog you must not lose your faith!”
Performance
Gregory Taylor (USA).
Translated by George Tokarev
© GEORGE TOKAREV 1999
HIDDEN MEANING IN SONG