From the Life of Planets

Today I thought I’d feature a more recent album by a classic band, Мегаполис (Megapolis). Much of their past work features lyrics from the poetry of Joseph Brodsky, Andrei Voznesensky, and others. The 2016 album Из жизни планет (From the Lives of Planets) was inspired by 1960s (Thaw-era) screenplays for films that were never actually shot, including one based on a short story by Venyamin Kaverin entitled Семь пар нечистых (Seven Pairs of Unclean Ones “that is, people”) — hence the title of today’s song.

As the band notes, Soviet filmmaking flourished during the post-Stalin “Thaw,” but the period was short-lived: by 1968 there was a “graveyard” of unmade films. «Из жизни планет» - попытка восполнить это отсутствие. Это история художника и власти, свободы и несвободы, великих нереализованных идей и их жизни после смерти». (The project “From the Lives of Planets” is an attempt to fill this void. This is a story of artists and authorities, freedom and unfreedom, great unrealized ideas and their afterlife.”). «Мы взяли всего четыре неснятых фильма из великого множества других, и написали к ним музыку. Вернее, мы написали музыку, в которой можно увидеть эти фильмы, представить, какими бы они были». (“We took only four unmade films from among a huge number of others, and wrote music for them. More precisely, we wrote music in which one can see these films, imagine what they might have been like”).

For more information on this fascinating project, see the official site, and be sure to give a listen to this wonderful album.

Seven Pairs of Unclean Ones

No one in the world knows
No one in the world awaits
We are so far away
The nocturnal sun will grow weary
And set for a moment
And will easily arise
And this pale sun
Will easily glimpse the shore
Far away, far away, far away
Far away, far away, far away

All of life has ended somewhere
And what awaits there ahead
Don’t believe and don’t await
Minutes have become hours
Hours turn into days
We are alone in the sea
The sea has no expectations
And it has no fate
Nothing, nothing, nothing
Nothing, nothing, nothing

Семь пар нечистых

Никто на свете не знает
никто на свете не ждёт
Мы так далеко
Ночное солнце устанет
И на мгновение зайдёт
И встанет легко
И это бледное солнце
Увидит берег легко
Далеко, далеко, далеко
Далеко, далеко, далеко

Вся жизнь закончена где-то
И что там ждёт впереди
Не верь и не жди
Минуты стали часами
Часы превращаются в дни
Мы в море одни
У моря нет ожиданий
И нет судьбы у него
Ничего, ничего, ничего
Ничего, ничего, ничего…