The Last Hero
Here’s the title track from a KINO album released in 1989. It is very typical of Viktor Tsoi’s songs in its ironic depiction of a “hero” who seems lonely, alienated, and plagued by a sense of purposelessness. Specifically, one recurring motif in Tsoi’s lyrics is that of purposeless motion, of a “progress” whose goal is purely illusory, or undesirable. Elsewhere on this album, for example, he sings of the suburban train that’s “taking him somewhere he doesn’t want to go” (Электричка везёт меня туда, куда я не хочу). Although Tsoi’s work is always more existential than overtly political, expressions of this kind of introspective despair inherently clashed with Soviet ideology and discourse, whose constant refrain was “Вперёд!” (“Onward!” — that is, toward Communism). Indeed, that very command surfaces here, again ironically, in the third verse, when our “hero” receives an urgent phonecall in the morning — summoning him to work? — and off he rushes, to somewhere where “no one waits for him.”
While the song touches on several of Tsoi’s favorite themes, it is perhaps unusual in its almost mocking tone — or, at the very least, in being addressed to a “ты.” If we survey Tsoi’s lyrics, they are almost invariably sung from the point of view of a “я” (which, again, inherently clashes with the collective “мы” of Soviet discourse). Here, then, the tone is strikingly sarcastic: “Good morning!” to you, and to those like you, when the morning — the “dawn” — is clearly anything but good.
Последний герой
Ночь коротка, цель далека,
Ночью так часто хочется пить,
Ты выходишь на кухню,
но вода здесь горька,
Ты не можешь здесь спать,
ты не хочешь здесь жить
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Доброе утро!
Тебе и таким как ты,
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Здравствуй!
Последний герой
Ты хотел быть один
это быстро прошло,
Ты хотел быть один,
но не смог быть один,
Твоя ноша легка,
но немеет рука,
И ты встречаешь рассвет
за игрой в "дурака"
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Доброе утро!
Тебе и таким как ты,
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Здравствуй!
Последний герой
Утром ты стремишься
скорее уйти,
Телефонный звонок
как команда — Вперёд!
Ты уходишь туда
куда не хочешь идти,
Ты уходишь туда,
но тебя там никто не ждёт
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Доброе утро!
Тебе и таким как ты,
Доброе утро!
Последний герой
Здравствуй!
Последний герой
The Last Hero
The night is short, the goal is far away;
At night you’re often thirsty.
You step out into the kitchen,
but the water here is bitter;
You can't sleep here,
you don't want to live here.
Good morning,
Last hero!
Good morning
to you and those like you.
Good morning,
Last hero,
Hello,
Last hero.
You wanted to be alone,
but that quickly passed;
You wanted to be alone,
but weren't able to be alone;
Your burden is light,
but your arm is growing numb,
And you meet the dawn
playing "idiot" (a card game).
Good morning,
Last hero!
Good morning
to you and those like you.
Good morning,
Last hero,
Hello,
Last hero.
In the morning you strive
to head off as quickly as possible;
A telephone call
like a command — "Onward!"
You head off "to there,
to where" you don't want to go.
You go "to there,"
but there's no one waiting for you there.
Good morning,
Last hero!
Good morning
to you and those like you.
Good morning,
Last hero,
Hello,
Last hero.
Vocab notes
ночь, и: night • короткий: short, brief • цель, и: goal, aim • далёкий: distant • хотеться кому + inf. (subjectless!): to feel like, have the urge (пить хочется: someone is thirsty — there is no Russian adjective for “thirsty!”) • кухня: kitchen; cuisine • горький: bitter • спать (сплю, спишь): to sleep • последний: last, final • герой: hero • проходить И / пройти: to pass • мочь Г / смочь Г: to be able to, “can” • ноша: burden • лёгкий: light; easy • неметь ЕЙ / онеметь ЕЙ: to grow numb • встречать АЙ / встретить И: to meet • рассвет: dawn • игра: game; also, play (the activity of playing), or acting • дурак: idiot • стремиться И: to strive • скорее: as soon as possible • звонок: a call, a “ring” • команда: command; team • ждать n/sA: to wait (for), expect
