A Song Without Words
This may be Tsoi’s most direct, most concise philosophical statement, and its very title announces the sense of paradox that lies at its center. Certainly, the song does have words, but perhaps those words are incapable of adequately expressing the essence of life’s mysteries, or even obscure them with shallow syllogisms that suggest logical connections that may not in fact exist. The inadequacy of language is an old theme in Russian poetry (see Tyutchev’s poem “Silentium!”). But Tsoi’s phrase recalls specifically the intuitive sense of a higher meaning captured in Lermontov’s extremely well-known poem “The Angel,” which describes an angel bearing a young soul into a world of suffering. As it carries the soul, it sings; and though in life the soul cannot recall the words of the angel’s song, its melody and ineffable meaning remain (И звук его песни в душе молодой / Остался — без слов, но живой). Perhaps music (and poetry) is capable of conveying truths that reach beyond the immediate “content” of its words.
Furthermore, the second line (a night without sleep) would place this in a long line of “insomnia” poems in the Russian tradition, in which the author, unable to sleep, meditates on his past life, and the meaning of life itself.
In any event, the song’s two verses are markedly different in tone. The first presents a bleak picture of a deterministic world, its dark logic of cause and effect, and clearly invokes the language of Ecclesiastes (“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven… a time to live, and a time to die,” etc. — lines featured in the Byrds’ song “Turn! Turn! Turn!,” which Tsoi certainly would have known). We then get a series of dative-case constructions: “for every x, there is a y.” First, unsettling images of hunger and thirst: each star has its little piece of sky, each sea its gulp of rain. Each apple has its place to fall (recalling Newton’s law of gravity, and the implacable laws of the physical world in general). Each thief will have ample opportunity to steal (recalling the proverb “Дурное дело не хитрое” — an evil deed is not clever, and evil is very easy to do for anyone intent on doing it). Every wolf has his teeth and malice — calling to mind another famous proverb: that “man is wolf to man” (Человек человеку волк); that is, human beings are as violent as any animal, but more perversely so, since their violence is done intentionally.
The chorus depicts life as a daily struggle: the light of day calls one out to battle, and the whole world wages war on one. Based on the first verse, it’s clear that Tsoi means “the whole world” quite literally.
Note, then, the striking shift in tone in the second verse: we go from the brute logic of facticity to the hopeful “logic” of faith: a series of “if… then” statements that suggest what OUGHT to be the case — things we can hope for, but which we cannot know to be true. Every example provides the bleak universe just depicted with a sense of meaning. If there is a herd (in Russian, “herd” may also be suggestive of masses of brutish human beings), then there should be a shepherd (calling to mind Christ as the “good shepherd,” whose flock “knows his voice” and follows it). If there is a body (the physical), there should be spirit. Every step should leave a footprint: the universe is not just a series of collisions, but of conscious deeds with moral consequences. If there is darkness, there should be light.
Finally, another striking shift, from the litany of logical constructions to a direct appeal to the listener, “ты,” with a stark choice: you can accept the world as it is, or as it appears to be, or you can insist on changing it. But beware: if you attempt to be extraordinary, to “step forth” from the anonymous ranks of humanity, you will end up either on a throne, or on an electric chair. This idea permeates Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: one who rebels, one who attempts to speak a “new word” of his own, will either establish new laws, or be put to death in accordance with the old ones.
Песня без слов
Песня без слов,
ночь без сна,
Всë в своë время —
зима и весна,
Каждой звезде —
свой неба кусок,
Каждому морю —
дождя глоток.
Каждому яблоку —
место упасть,
Каждому вору —
возможность украсть,
Каждой собаке —
палку и кость,
И каждому волку —
зубы и злость.
Снова за окнами
белый день,
День вызывает меня
на бой.
Я чувствую,
закрывая глаза, —
Весь мир идëт на
меня войной
Если есть стадо —
есть пастух,
Если есть тело —
должен быть дух,
Если есть шаг —
должен быть след,
Если есть тьма —
должен быть свет.
Хочешь ли ты
изменить этот мир,
Сможешь ли ты
принять, как есть,
Встать и выйти из ряда вон,
Сесть на электрический стул
или трон?
Снова за окнами
белый день,
День вызывает меня
на бой.
Я чувствую,
закрывая глаза, —
Весь мир идëт на
меня войной
A Song Without Words
A song without words,
a night without sleep,
Everything in its (appointed) time,
winter and spring.
To every star —
its own bit of sky,
To every sea —
a sip of rain.
To every apple —
a place to fall,
To every thief —
a chance to steal.
To every dog —
a stick and a bone,
And to every wolf —
teeth and malice.
Again, outside the windows
"white day."
The day summons me
to battle.
I feel,
as I close my eyes,
That the entire world is coming
to wage war on me.
If there is a herd,
there is a shepherd;
If there is a body,
there should be a spirit.
If there is a step,
there should be a footprint;
If there is darkness,
there should be light.
Do you want
to change this world?
Will you be able
to accept (it) as it is?
To stand and "step out from the row,"
to sit on an electric chair
or a throne?
Again, outside the windows
"white day."
The day summons me
to battle.
I feel,
as I close my eyes,
That the entire world is coming
to wage war on me.
Vocab notes
песня: song • слово: word • ночь, и: night • сон: sleep; dream • время, времени: time • зима: winter • весна: spring • каждый: each, every • звезда: star • небо: sky • кусок, куска: piece • море: sea • дождь, я: rain • глоток, глотка: gulp, a swallow • яблоко: apple • место: place • падать АЙ / упасть Д: to fall • вор: thief • возможность, и: possibility, opportunity • красть Дend / украсть Д: to steal • палка: stick •кость, и: bone • волк: wolf • зуб: teeth • злость, и: anger, malice • снова: (once) again • окно: window • белый: white (“white day” is something like the English “the light of day”) • день, дня: day • вызывать АЙ / вызвать n/sA: to “call out,” challenge • бой: fight, battle • чувствовать ОВА / почувствовать ОВА: to feel • закрывая: imperfective verbal adverb from закрывать АЙ / закрыть ОЙstem: to close • глаз, pl. глаза: eye • война: war • стадо: a herd (of cattle, sheep, etc.) • пастух: shepherd • тело: body • дух: spirit • шаг: step • след: footprint, trace, track • тьма: darkness • свет: light • ли: here, it is simply marking (rhetorical) questions • мир: world; peace • изменять АЙ / изменить Иshift: to change (transitive!) • мочь Г / смочь Г: to be able • принимать АЙ / принять Й/Мshift: to accept • вставать АВАЙ / встать Н: to rise up, get up • ряд: row, rank (из ряда вон: “out of the row” — this phrase suggests being extraordinary) • вон: out of (here) • садиться И / сесть Д (сяду, сядешь): to assume a sitting position • стул: chair • трон: throne
