Vladimir Vysotsky

Vysotsky was born 75 years ago, today. He was a true bard and he sang about life but even more, he played life. He became an emblem of the legendary Taganka theatre. A great website dedicated to Vladimir Vysotsky is this one: http://www.kulichki.com/vv/eng/ And about his significance and role, one can get an impression from this passage:

"He died during the Moscow Olympics, and people abandoned their stadiums and TV sets to participate in a spontaneous memorial service. Though there had been no announcement of his death in the press, within hours everyone in Moscow knew of it, and thousands gathered near the theater, where his legendary guitar was displayed, to recite his poems and honor his memory. At the funeral a few days later, mourners jammed the streets all around the Taganka, but only a few were able to file past the coffin before it was whisked away, while someone on a rooftop with a loud voice described the scene to the pressing crowd. "After Vysotsky's funeral," said Lyubimov (Taganka's director where Vysotsky played his Hamlet), "I began to respect the people of Moscow".

And a few of my favorites by Vladimir Vysotsky:


I love you now

I love you now, in fact,
And I don't hold it back.
It's not "before", not "after" - your rays set me afire.
Whether I weep or I smile
I love you in this while,-
the future I don't want, the past I don't desire.

"I loved you" (in the past)
is worth than breathing last.
My wings are cut, and I'm restrained by tender feeling,
although the greatest poet stated once:
"I was in love with you - my love may still be living"…

As if it were disavowed, faded,
for it implies compassion, condescension,
it's what one feels for overthrown kings.
There is regret in it for something outdated,
subsided striving, softened aspiration
and disbelief in "love you" kind of things.

My current love has got
no detriment, no spot.
My age is under way - I want no venesection!
At this continuous present I do not
live in the past nor dream of future foundation.

Through thick and thin I'll get
to you somehow, you bet! -
my feet put into chains and bound with heavy irons.
But when I say "I love you", even yet
don't make me add "I will", by error or with bias.

"I will" has got a bitter connotation,
for it implies a counterfeit, decay - unpleasant,
a loophole for retreating, anyhow,
insipid poison and contamination,
slap in the face, affront upon the present,
a doubt that I really love you now.

I dream my dream in French,
it has a wide tense range,
the future and the past are different from ours.
I'm pilloried, disgraced and outraged,
The language seems to set me at defiance.

The language gap, oh my!
I am about to cry !
Yet we can work it out, we have our firm intentions.
I love you at the times which will comply
with Future, Past and Present Perfect tenses.



About our meeting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygygqk0wlmQ

We were to meet. I waited for the day.
It felt like waiting for a terrible disaster,
But we began to live together right away,
Without fearing what might come after.

I got you out of gutter, dressed you, and
I cut the number of your doubtful connections,
You had a trail behind, without end,
A long-long trail of casual relations.

I battered, I recall, your so called friends,
I don't know why, but I just didn't like them,
Although there might have been, I sense,
Nice fellows, genuine friends, among them.

I'd do whatever you would ask me to.
I wanted every hour to be night of wedding.
One day I nearly killed myself for you,
but my attempt, thank God, was unavailing.

And if you'd waited for me on the year
When I was driven to the "country-house",
I would have stolen skies for you, my dear,
and in addition stars from Kremlin towers.

I'll give you anything, or I'll be damned!
Don't drink, don't lie, and I'll forgive you, sinner!
I'll give you Opera and Ballet and
The smaller building of the Sports Arena.

I'm not inclined to meet you now, my dove,
I'm scared of our act of love occurring,
The way the Japanese are scared of
the horror of Hiroshima recurring.



The one who's been with her before
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWSaoLpB7wc

I didn't drink or sing that night,
I stared at her with all my might.
Like children stare, like children stare.

But the one who's been with her before
Yelled out at me "You better go!"
Yelled out at me "You better go, You've no prayer!"

And the one who's been with her before
Was rude and wouldn't let it go;
But I remember, I was still sober,
I started walking towards the door,
She asked me "Stay a minute more",
She asked me "Stay a minute more, the night's not over."

But he who's been with her before
Did not forget me, I am sure,
And once in autumn, and once in autumn...
I'm out walking with my bro,
I saw them standing in a row,
I saw them standing in a row, there were eight of 'em!

And so I think, I've got my blade,
You'll never take me, just you wait!
I'll show you bastards! I'll show you bastards!
Why should I die without a fight?
I was the first to strike that night,
I was the first to strike that night, and that was justice.

But the one who's been with her before,
He cooked this plot up, I just know.
I've thought it over, I've thought it over.
When someone struck me  from behind
Varyuha screamed: "Watch out, Might!"
Varyuha screamed: "Watch out, Might!" But it was over.

To my eight woes just one reply,
And in the slammer where I lie,
There also surgeons, there also surgeons.
The doctor sliced me left and right,
All he could say was: "Hold on tight",
All he could say was: "Hold on tight",
And I was holding...

All in a glance the years flew by.
She didn't wait, and didn't try,
But I forgive her, I do forgive her.
I did forgive her, that's for sure,
But he who's been with her before,
but he who's been with her before,
Is not forgiven.

I did forgive her, that's for sure,
But he who's been with her before,
With him who's been with her before,
I will get even!



And the candles are melting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8irsSAsv_o

And the candles are melting
Out to the aged parquet.
The rain runs down shoulders
Like silver off epaulets.
In a frenzy there fizzles
The golden champagne.
Let the past fly away,
I'm not one to complain.

In a premortal anguish
with a back-looking glance,
The scared stags bound forward
Toward the deadly advance.
Someone points his long barrel
At the innocent breast...
Let bygones be bygones,
Come what may, if it's best.

With a heartless abandon
A clever hunter takes aim
With razor-sharp arrows
Into the sunset's red flame.
In the tempest of sound
A sad note then began.
The past leaps and bounds,
Come what may, if it can.



Ballad about love
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWap5fmxCLI

When, after all, the great deluge was over,
The seas came back within their coastal lines,
Out of the foam of the receding water
The love came out softly to the land.
And, for some time, it faded in the air,
And lasted for an eon and some then.

And some eccentrics that still do exist
Inhale with their full lungs that crazy mix,
Expecting neither scolding nor reward,
And thinking they are free to breath it in
They realize one day that they fit in
Somebody else's intermittent breathing.

But remember: a feeling's like a boat
It's afloat until you realize:
That the words "I love" mean simply that
"I can breathe" and "I am still alive".

There will be plenty of despair and roaming.
The land of love is the most noble land.
The knights of love will have to go through testing
With ever higher standards and demands.
They will be separated by a distance,
Devoid of leisure, sleep without rest.

But nothing in the world can turn them back.
Those madmen do agree to pay it back,
Pay any price, their lives won't be excepted
In order to preserve and to protect
Some indiscernible and magic thread
Which love between them now has extended.

Wind and snow swept them off their feet,
Made them drunk and raised them from the dead.
'Cause remember you have neither lived,
Nor have breathed, if you have never loved.

And most of them have choked with love forever.
They can't be reached no matter what you do.
They are accounted by idle talk and rumor,
And that account is laced with pure blood.
But we will light up candles in the memory
Of those who died from the unprecedented love.

Their souls, among the flowers, will run
And their voices will blend and sound as one.
They will inhale eternity together.
And somewhere, on a fragile river cross,
A narrow bridge across the universe
Holding their breath, they will meet each other.

I will open fields to those who love!
Let them sing awake and in their rest.
I do breathe and that means I'm in love.
I'm in love and that means I exist.

I've been listening: Chill Out

My favorite Chill Out mix out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaPBnBFIrYA I hope you like it. It always saves me when I'm on the verge to explode. And for a reason unknown reminds me of lilac... clouds and clouds of lilac...

*Picture courtesy of desire87.deviantart.com

Sofia Int'l Film Fest

Not much time left till SIFF starts, two months, will pass as a blink of an eye. If you're around and haven't been to SIFF, it's a good place to be. :) http://siff.bg/index.php?page=page&id=2&lang=en Unfortunately, the dates are the same as the dates I booked for a Paris trip... Now back to change the booking. Looks like my travels these days are all troublesome!