Re: Russian lyrics

[Robert A. Rothstein <rar...>]

If Lenka Lichtenberg indeed "learned at school (under pressure)" the lyrics that
she quotes

> ...SHTO YA LYUBLYOM...
> EY, RAZKASHA TY MAYA, EY RAZKASHA, EY RAZKASHA TY MAYA EY RAZKASHA.

the Czechoslovak Ministry of Education should have fired her Russian teacher.
The Russian verb "to love" doesn't have a form "lyublyom," and although it's
difficult to prove that a word doesn't exist, the putative Russian word
"razkasha" is a good candidate for nonexistence.

    The text that I quoted from Skuditski (_Folklor-lider_, v. 2, Moscow, 1936)

        Gde eta ulitsa, gde etot dom,
        Gde eta devushka, chto [= shto] ia vliublen [= vlyublyon]?
        Vot eta ulitsa, vot etot dom,
        Vot eta devushka, chto ia vliublen.

is also cited in other sources, sometimes with the word "baryshnia" (young lady)
rather than "devushka" (girl).  It is sometimes sung as part of a Russian urban
folksong (with the same melody as "Vu iz dos gesele...") from at least the
1920s, but probably older, that begins

        Krutitsia, vertitsia shar goluboi,        A blue ballon is spinning and
turning.
        Krutitsia, vertitsia nad golovoi,        It's spinning and turning over
our heads.
        Krutitsia, vertitsia, khochet upast',    It's spinning and turning and
wants to fall.
        Kavaler baryshniu khochet ukrast'.        A young man wants to steal a
young woman.

The Russian song became very popular in the 1930s due to its use in three Soviet
films, the so-called "Trilogy about Maxim."

            Bob Rothstein




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