Cursed Thoughts
This song, covered here by Yegor Letov, has a rather tangled history and has been sung by many different performers, with slight variations in the lyrics; it was also featured in the film Пять вечеров; many believe it is an authentic Russian folk song, while in fact it was written (in folk style — note, for example, the mostly dactylic line endings, with the stresses on the prepenultiamate syllables, as in окаянные, беспокоите, etc.) by the bard Юлий Ким, with the original title Губы окаянные (cursed lips). In the song, the speaker apostrophizes his own thoughts (of a lost love, it seems) and reproaches them for giving him no peace. Finally he dreams of sending a letter that will somehow return things to normal.
Though Letov’s band Гражданская оборона (Civil Defense) is best known for its abrasive punk music, he was often at his best doing simple acoustic-guitar covers or versions of his own songs, of which I’ll post others later.
Cursed Thoughts
Cursed thoughts
Hidden thoughts
Senseless love
Reckless little head.
You, thoughts, know everything
You, thoughts, remember everything
Why, why do you “my heart
trouble with this?”
I will lure a dove
I will lure a gray (one)
I will send my sweetheart a letter
And we’ll begin everything again.
Думы окаянные
Думы окаянные
Мысли потаëнные
Бестолковая любовь
Головка забубëнная.
Всë вы думы знаете
Всë вы думы помните
Ну по что ж вы моë сердце
Этим беспокоите?
Поманю я голубя
Поманю я сизого
Пошлю милке да письмецо
И мы начнëм всё сызнова.
Vocab notes
дума: thought • окаянный: cursed, damned • мысль, и: thought • потаённый: secret, hidden • бестолковый: senseless (lacking толк: sense, use) • головка: diminutive of голова: head • забубённый: reckless, unruly, crazy • знать АЙ: to know • помнить И: to remember • по что ж = почему же: why (же is an emphatic particle, adding a tone of urgency to this question) • сердце: heart • беспокоить И / обеспокоить И кого чем: to trouble someone with something • манить Иshift / поманить И: to lure • голубь, я: dove • сизый: dove-gray • милка = милая: a “sweet one,” sweetheart • письмецо: diminutive of письмо: letter • начинать АЙ / начать /Нend: to begin, start • сызнова: from the beginning, all over again
