From One View of Soldiering to Another
Sergey Babkin is cofounder of 5’Nizza (apparently pronounced as the word “Friday”), a band that has been prominent in Russia and Ukraine, and around 2009 he put out a Russian-language song called “I’m a Soldier,” which I think can fairly be described as focusing on the misery and pointlessness of soldiering. The YouTube version has more than 8 million views.
Then a few weeks ago, he put out a very different Russian-language language version, now up to 5 million views. (I briefly noted here why it makes sense that many pro-Ukraine songs might well be in Russian.) Have a look or listen at both:
[1.] The 2009 version:
Here’s a translation, free-riding largely on this page (thanks, unknown katya) but with some modifications:
I’m a soldier
I haven’t slept in five years
And I have dark circles under my eyes
Haven’t seen them myself
But so I’ve been told
I’m a soldier
And I have no head (*)
They have beaten it off with their boots
Yo-o-o, the commander shouts
The commander’s mouth is torn open
Because a grenade …
White cotton wool,
Red cotton wool won’t heal a soldierI’m a sold
Article from Reason.com
