Auktyon: Ears
Filonov, Formula of the Petrograd Proletariat, 1920-21
Here’s an amusing song from my favorite Russian band, Auktyon (the Russian is Аукцыон — the unusual English transliteration is their own doing!). This is off their brilliant 1993 album “The Bird,” which I’m posting below in its entirety. Their first six or seven albums, culminating with this one, were all works of genius… musically inventive, lyrically experimental, and full of humor. At some point I’ll post more by them.
The theme of disintegration (physical and mental) has a rich history in Russian literature… beginning, I suppose, with Gogol’s “The Nose.” In this vein, here’s a story (!) from the absurdist writer Daniil Kharms — whom you should definitely check out if you haven’t read him; he is absolutely hilarious.
Даниил Хармс, Голубая тетрадь
Жил один рыжий человек, у которого не было глаз и ушей. У него не было и волос, так что рыжим его называли условно.
Говорить он не мог, так как у него не было рта. Носа тоже у него не было.
У него не было даже рук и ног. И живота у него не было, и спины у него не было, и хребта у него не было, и никаких внутренностей у него не было. Ничего не было! Так что не понятно, о ком идет речь.
Уж лучше мы о нём не будем больше говорить.
From Daniil Kharms’ Blue Notebook
There once lived a red-haired man who had neither eyes nor ears. He also lacked hair, and so it was purely by convention that he was referred to as “red-haired.”
He couldn’t speak, because he had no mouth. He also had no nose.
Nor did he have arms or legs. Nor a stomach, nor a back, nor a spine, and he was completely lacking internal organs as well. He had nothing! So it’s not even clear who we’re talking about.
Better then to say nothing more about him.
Anyway, here’s the song by Auktyon…
Уши
Пропали уши у меня
Средь бела дня
И стал я грустный
Как индюк иль как сова
Потом пропал мой нос и брюки
И улетели в небо руки
Исчез мой рот и позвонок
И стало как-то невдомек
Что пропадает всё, что было
Все члены, как стекает мыло
Потом ушли мои глаза
Один — туда, другой — сюда
И набежавшая слеза
Шепнула: "Надо же, беда!"
Нет больше сил, нет больше веры
Ведь надо знать немного меры
А член мой, сладкий, как дитя
Шепнул на память: "Вот свинья!"
Ears
My ears went missing
In broad daylight
And I became sad
Like a turkey, or like an owl
Then my nose went missing, and my pants,
And my arms flew off into the sky;
My mouth disappeared, then a vertebra…
And I grew somehow nonplussed
At how everything that was was now vanishing —
All my limbs, like so much rinsed-off soap…
And next my eyes departed,
One going this way, the other that;
And a tear that had gathered
Whispered: “Oh no! Alas!”
I have no more strength, no more faith.
I mean, one must have a sense of moderation.
Meanwhile, my member — sweet as a child —
Whispered goodbye: “You pig!”
Full Album: “The Bird” (Птица)
To stick with this theme. take this song off Auktyon’s album “Dweller of the Heights” (Жилец вершин), which took on the seemingly daunting task of setting the poetry of trans-sense poet Velimir Khlebnikov to music. Generally speaking, the influence of his kind of poetry on Auktyon’s own lyrics is unmistakable.
Бобэоби пелись губы,
Вээоми пелись взоры,
Пиээо пелись брови,
Лиэээй — пелся облик,
Гзи-гзи-гзэо пелась цепь.
Так на холсте каких-то соответствий
Вне протяжения жило Лицо.
Bo-be-o-be sang the lips,
Ve-e-o-mi sang the gazes,
Pi-e-e-o sang the eyebrows,
Li-e-e-ei sang the countenance,
Gzi-gzi-gze-o sang the chain.
Thus, on a canvas of correspondences of some sort,
Beyond extension, lived the Face.
A few thematically related songs that came to mind…
When I was a young lad growing up in the South, I listened to R.E.M. constantly (especially their earlier albums) and greatly admired Michael Stipe. So I was delighted years later when I happened to read somewhere that he was the source of the title of this Radiohead song… after helping his friend Thom Yorke learn to cope with stardom and stage fright… simply tell yourself: “I’m not here. This isn’t happening.”
