In the Final Autumn
Another important late-Soviet rock band, one still active today, is that led by Yuri Shevchuk (Юрий Шевчук) - ДДТ (say "deh deh teh"). The band is named after DDT, a notorious pesticide banned in North America because of its threat to wildlife - notably, to the Bald Eagle. This band is particularly nice for students, because Shevchuk sings very loudly and clearly and enunciates with great gusto. Today's song is a reflection on historical change and its relation to the fate of the individual, as well as the question of whether poets have any truths to reveal to us in this regard. In fact, DDT first performed this song in 1990, when sweeping historical change was underway; the Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989, and the Soviet Union would finally collapse in 1991. And they performed it at a memorial concert in honor of Viktor Tsoi, in the wake of his tragic death. For the purpose of understanding this song, Tsoi might too be deemed a leading "poet" of the late Soviet generation, and now his voice had suddenly gone silent. The same fate was met by Russia's greatest poet, Pushkin, who died in a duel defending his wife's honor. Pushkin died at age 37, and Tsoi at just 28.
This song, like many in DDT's catalogue, prominently features autumn - the season when the leaves are falling, and the summer is dying away; a long winter lies ahead, and perhaps one sometimes wonders if spring will ever come again. Understood as a metaphor for historical change, this question about what will follow the "fall" becomes more acute: change is exhilirating and liberating on the one hand, but also full of anxiety. Russian poets, Pushkin most of all, are often regarded with the reverance due to oracles: their poetry speaks to Russia's historical fate, while lyrically giving voice to the individual caught up in that history. Shevchuk seems to turn to Pushkin for answers here, but Pushkin tells him nothing. Why?
The song alludes to a fact of Pushkin's biography that any educated Russian would be familiar with: he was known for bursts of astounding creativity, particularly in the fall. The most well-known such burst of creativity was his so-called Boldino Autumn (Болдинская осень) of 1830, when, confined to his estate Болдино during a cholera epidemic, he tossed off one masterpiece after another. Yet, in the final autumn of his life, in 1836, beset by a number of personal and financial problems, he wrote nothing. So, Shevchuk can only speculate about what Pushkin "knew" during his final autumn.
By the time this song was released on an album, it had taken on an additional layer of meaning: Shevchuk dedicated the 1992 album Актриса Весна ("The Actress Spring") to his wife Elmira, who had just died of cancer. The album's cover features one of her drawings. She was an aspiring actress, and often worked in puppet theater. The album's title was a childhood nickname of hers.
Shevchuk addresses Pushkin politely in the song, using first name and patronymic. Can you spot them in the song?
In the Final Autumn
In the final autumn
not a verse, not a sigh.
The final songs
fell, like leaves, in the summer.
Like a farewell bonfire
an epoch is burning out,
And we observe
the shadow and the light
In the final autumn.
An autumn storm
jokingly swept away
Everything that was smothering us
in the dusty night.
Everything that was crushing,
playing, glimmering
Has, by an aspen wind,
been torn to shreds
In the final autumn.
Ah, Alexander
Sergeyevich, dear -
Why, oh why,
did you tell us nothing
Of how you held,
searched, loved,
Of that which you knew
in the final autumn?
In the final autumn.
A hungry sea,
foaming, has swallowed
The autumn sun,
and, beyond the clouds,
You'll never again remember
what happened here,
And this dusty grass
you'll never again touch with your hands.
In the final autumn
the poets are departing,
And we can never get them back -
the windows are shuttered.
What remains are rains,
and a frozen summer;
What remains is love,
and stones come to life
In the final autumn.
В последнюю осень
В последнюю осень
ни строчки, ни вздоха.
Последние песни
осыпались летом.
Прощальным костром
догорает эпоха,
И мы наблюдаем
за тенью и светом
В последнюю осень
Осенняя буря
шутя разметала
Всë то, что душило нас
пыльною ночью.
Всë то, что давило,
играло, мерцало
Осиновым ветром
разорвано в клочья
В последнюю осень
Ах, Александр
Сергеевич, милый —
Ну что же Вы нам
ничего не сказали
О том, как держали,
искали, любили,
О том, что в последнюю
осень Вы знали
В последнюю осень
Голодное море
шипя поглотило
Осеннее солнце,
и за облаками
Вы больше не вспомните
то, что здесь было
И пыльной травы
не коснëтесь руками.
Уходят в последнюю
осень поэты
И их не вернуть —
заколочены ставни.
Остались дожди
и замëрзшее лето,
Осталась любовь
и ожившие камни
В последнюю осень.
Vocab notes:
последний: last, final • осень, и: fall, autumn • строчка: diminutive of строка: verse, line of poetry (or other writing) • вздох: sigh • песня: song • осыпаться АЙ / осыпаться АЙ: to fall (of leaves in autumn) • лето: summer • прощальный: farewell • костёр: bonfire • догорать АЙ / догореть Еend: to finish burning, burn out • эпоха: epoch • наблюдать АЙ за чем: to observe • тень, и: shade, shadow • свет: light; world • осенний: adj. from осень: fall • буря: storm • шутя: imperfective verbal adverb from шутить И / пошутить И: to joke • разметать АЙ / размести Тend: to sweep in various directions, apart • душить Иshift / задушить И: to smother • пыльный: dusty, from пыль, и: dust • давить Иshift / задавить И: to crush • играть АЙ / сыграть АЙ: to play • мерцать АЙ: to glimmer • осиновый: adj. from осина: aspen tree • ветер: wind • разрывать АЙ / разорвать n/sA: to tear apart • клок, pl. клочья: bit, scrap, shred • милый: dear • держать ЖАshift: to hold • искать Аshift / поискать А: to search for • голодный: hungry • море: sea • шипя: imperfective verbal adverb from шипеть Еend: to hiss, sizzle, fizz • поглощать АЙ / поглотить Иend: to swallow • солнце: sun • облако, pl. облака: cloud • помнить И / вспомнить И: to remember • трава: grass • касаться АЙ / коснуться НУend чего: to touch • уходить И / уйти: to go (far) away, depart • поэт: poet • возвращать АЙ / вернуть НУend: to return (something), get back • заколачивать АЙ / заколотить Иshift: to hammer, nail shut • ставень, ставня: shutter • оставаться АВАЙ / остаться Нstem: to remain, be left behind • дождь, я: rain • замёрзший: past active verbal adjective of мёрзнуть НУ / замёрзнуть НУ: to freeze (intransitive) • любовь, любви: love • оживший: past active verbal adjective of оживать АЙ / ожить Вend: to come (back) to life • камень, камня: stone, rock
