Zhertva televedeniya
("Victim of Television" - Vladimir Vissotsky trans. Adrian J. Erlinger)
Here is the television - a loudspeaker and,
An orator, who spreads it for miles!
It's not a window, (I won't even spit into a window)
It has opened up all of the world's doors.
Everybody's at home - at full attention:
Vacation in the Crimea, hurricanes and Kobzon,
Film, part seven - they eat it all up:
But I didn't even see parts one through six.
I turn on Channel 1 - and they are diving -
Well, it's okay, from twenty meters.
"Look at those girls!" - they are performing!
All of ‘em in aprons, you could lose your mind!
We have television - my apartment now seems bigger,
I'm grieving at all the world's problems,
I am breathing the air of the entire world,
I see Nixon with his First Lady.
Imagine that! Foreign leaders in front of you-
Eye to eye, head to head
Propped up by a footstool, my TV set.
I have witnessed their important tЙte-Ю-tЙte.
Then - shock workers at the bread factory,
Talk about baking until ten o'clock.
My wife says "Oh look at those guys!"
Shooting, jumping, you could lose your mind!
If you aren't watching - then you are not a fool,
You're probably just living in a cave:
And you don't know where they find talent,
You don't know who is gifted!
How can I convince my stubborn Nastya?!
She wants to go to the movies when it's Saturday.
She says that I too have fallen for
That stupid box for idiots.
Yes, I too am addicted - I come home,
And here is Nixon and Georges Pompidou!
It's all right - I grabbed a bottle -
I took a shot for Georges, but not one for Richard.
But reality is even more of a nightmare -
I turn on Channel 4 and go to the balcony:
"Look at those girls!" "Look at those guys!"
They are giving prizes out in the UN!
...Then, at the Kanatchikov Mental Hospital,
Where unfortunately that intrusive service is,
In a haze, I saw the whole broadcast,
The whole show was about Angela Davis.
I hear: don't cry, everything's okay in the taiga,
USSR won the game against West Germany,
They arrested a hundred of those scoundrels,
And Magomaev sings on KVN.
But reality is still so elegant and chic -
Two televisions - turn and twirl:
"Look at those guys!" "Look at those girls!"
I'm not afraid to lose my mind!
Here is the television - a loudspeaker and,
An orator, who spreads it for miles!
It's not a window, (I won't even spit into a window)
It has opened up all of the world's doors.
Everybody's at home - at full attention:
Vacation in the Crimea, hurricanes and Kobzon,
Film, part seven - they eat it all up:
But I didn't even see parts one through six.
I turn on Channel 1 - and they are diving -
Well, it's okay, from twenty meters.
"Look at those girls!" - they are performing!
All of ‘em in aprons, you could lose your mind!
We have television - my apartment now seems bigger,
I'm grieving at all the world's problems,
I am breathing the air of the entire world,
I see Nixon with his First Lady.
Imagine that! Foreign leaders in front of you-
Eye to eye, head to head
Propped up by a footstool, my TV set.
I have witnessed their important tЙte-Ю-tЙte.
Then - shock workers at the bread factory,
Talk about baking until ten o'clock.
My wife says "Oh look at those guys!"
Shooting, jumping, you could lose your mind!
If you aren't watching - then you are not a fool,
You're probably just living in a cave:
And you don't know where they find talent,
You don't know who is gifted!
How can I convince my stubborn Nastya?!
She wants to go to the movies when it's Saturday.
She says that I too have fallen for
That stupid box for idiots.
Yes, I too am addicted - I come home,
And here is Nixon and Georges Pompidou!
It's all right - I grabbed a bottle -
I took a shot for Georges, but not one for Richard.
But reality is even more of a nightmare -
I turn on Channel 4 and go to the balcony:
"Look at those girls!" "Look at those guys!"
They are giving prizes out in the UN!
...Then, at the Kanatchikov Mental Hospital,
Where unfortunately that intrusive service is,
In a haze, I saw the whole broadcast,
The whole show was about Angela Davis.
I hear: don't cry, everything's okay in the taiga,
USSR won the game against West Germany,
They arrested a hundred of those scoundrels,
And Magomaev sings on KVN.
But reality is still so elegant and chic -
Two televisions - turn and twirl:
"Look at those guys!" "Look at those girls!"
I'm not afraid to lose my mind!