a belated memorial day post
The girl singing looks like my mother in her youth. This is from a Polish TV serial about a tank, its four crewmen and their dog, and how they win the Second World War with help from the Soviets. I'd call it propaganda, only what wasn't? It was quite good. M.A.S.H. + Band of Brothers + Polish cheesecake.
Piosenka Marusi
На войне случайно после разлуки
Сходятся дороги как в пожатьях руки
Нет у нас в запасе даже дня до встречи
Случайное счастье, случайный и вечер
Случайное счастье, случайный и вечер
Там в дали, где сосны в солнечной пряже
Рудый ждёт свиданья полным экипажем
А мечты девичьи не всегда известны
Четыре танкиста, одна невеста
Четыре танкиста, одна невеста
По следам отыщут в дымных закатах
Славные танкисты, смелые ребята
На опушках выткал паутину вечер
Кукушка считает шаги до встречи
Кукушка считает шаги до встречи
słowa: Wasyli Kocznow
muz: Adam Walaciński
wyk: Pola Raksa
My attempt at idiomatic translation follows. Grammatical help and suggestions appreciated, my Russian is frankly horrible. [Now edited with the kind help of shelestel!] However I reserve the poetic license to depart from the letter of the text to make it clearer in English -- sometimes the Russian economy of verbs and null definiteness needs fleshing out with an extra helping of English words to avoid sounding telegraphic. (The existential quadri- tessarlemma of Четыре танкиста, одна невеста gets extra words just to spell out the tension, obvious to anyone familiar with the serial).
In war, by chance, after parting
paths converge like hands in a handshake;
We don't have in stock even the day, before this
Happenstance happiness and accidental evening
Happenstance happiness and accidental evening.
There in the distance, where the pines are woven with sunlight,
"Rudy"(*) awaits rendezvous with its full crew;
A girl's dreams are not always revealed --
There are four tankmen, but only one woman
There are four tankmen, but only one woman.
By her tracks they will trace her through smoky sunsets,
The gloried tankmen, the courageous kids;
On the edge of the woods the evening stitched with spiderweb,
The cuckoo counts the steps to the meeting
The cuckoo counts the steps to the meeting.
(*)"Rudy" (red-head) is the name given the heroes' tank. It is so named after the Russian nurse singing here.
The four original crewmen can be seen in these opening credits (one gets offed early on and replaced by another). The second one, Gustlik, looks like my (maternal) grandfather in his youth, and the fourth, the swarthy Georgian, like my mother's sister's husband. I liked him the best.
Click to viewPiosenka Marusi
На войне случайно после разлуки
Сходятся дороги как в пожатьях руки
Нет у нас в запасе даже дня до встречи
Случайное счастье, случайный и вечер
Случайное счастье, случайный и вечер
Там в дали, где сосны в солнечной пряже
Рудый ждёт свиданья полным экипажем
А мечты девичьи не всегда известны
Четыре танкиста, одна невеста
Четыре танкиста, одна невеста
По следам отыщут в дымных закатах
Славные танкисты, смелые ребята
На опушках выткал паутину вечер
Кукушка считает шаги до встречи
Кукушка считает шаги до встречи
słowa: Wasyli Kocznow
muz: Adam Walaciński
wyk: Pola Raksa
My attempt at idiomatic translation follows. Grammatical help and suggestions appreciated, my Russian is frankly horrible. [Now edited with the kind help of shelestel!] However I reserve the poetic license to depart from the letter of the text to make it clearer in English -- sometimes the Russian economy of verbs and null definiteness needs fleshing out with an extra helping of English words to avoid sounding telegraphic. (The existential quadri- tessarlemma of Четыре танкиста, одна невеста gets extra words just to spell out the tension, obvious to anyone familiar with the serial).
In war, by chance, after parting
paths converge like hands in a handshake;
We don't have in stock even the day, before this
Happenstance happiness and accidental evening
Happenstance happiness and accidental evening.
There in the distance, where the pines are woven with sunlight,
"Rudy"(*) awaits rendezvous with its full crew;
A girl's dreams are not always revealed --
There are four tankmen, but only one woman
There are four tankmen, but only one woman.
By her tracks they will trace her through smoky sunsets,
The gloried tankmen, the courageous kids;
On the edge of the woods the evening stitched with spiderweb,
The cuckoo counts the steps to the meeting
The cuckoo counts the steps to the meeting.
(*)"Rudy" (red-head) is the name given the heroes' tank. It is so named after the Russian nurse singing here.
The four original crewmen can be seen in these opening credits (one gets offed early on and replaced by another). The second one, Gustlik, looks like my (maternal) grandfather in his youth, and the fourth, the swarthy Georgian, like my mother's sister's husband. I liked him the best.