Wings
This is the title track from Nautilus Pompilius’ 1996 album Крылья (Wings), and is now arguably their most famous song, thanks in no small part to its prominent role in the 1997 film Брат (Brother — which is a must-watch for anyone interested in Russia, particularly in the decade often referred to as the лихие девяностые, or “wild 90s). The band’s lead singer, Vyacheslav Butusov, even appears in the film, after the main character has spent much of his spare time in the movie trying to hunt down precisely this album.
I often tell students that this movie, filmed in Petersburg, gives a great sense of what Russia was like in the decade or so following the breakup of the Soviet Union. Petersburg in particular was practically falling apart, and it looked exactly the same when I first lived there in 2000 as it did in this film. Only by 2003, for the city’s 300’s birthday, had widespread renovations begun, though many of them seemed superficial. In the time since, they’ve been more thorough. Today Russia’s major cities, Petersburg and Moscow, look nothing like they did back then — the difference is night and day. The cities were a lot bleaker back then, and spending time in Russian nowadays is generally a lot more pleasant. But a certain nostalgia remains, as for almost all things, I suppose — well, for searching stores for Russian rock CDs, which I also spent a good deal of my time doing! I spent all of that year listening to nothing but Russian rock. I think this was among the first five albums or so I bought, and it remains my favorite from Nautilus.
A quick aside: my interest in Russian rock began when I was staying with some Russian friends early that fall in the dorm of Moscow State University (in the Stalin-era high rise). I heard Viktor Tsoi come on the radio and was basically mesmerized. I asked my friends who was singing, and the rest is history.
The song speaks enigmatically of a catastrophic war — and, in an unsettling disconnect, the speaker, noticing scars on a woman’s back as if for the first time, asks, as if for no particular reason, what happened to the wings he used to love.
Wings
You take off your evening dress,
Standing with your face to the wall,
And I see fresh scars
On your back, smooth as velvet.
I want to weep from pain
Or lose myself in sleep.
By the way, where are your wings that
I so liked?
Where are your wings that I liked?
Where are your wings that I liked?
We used to have time,
Now we have things to take care of:
To try to prove that the strong devours the weak,
To try to prove that ash is white.
We’ve all lost something
In this insane war.
By the way, where are your wings,
that I so liked?
Where are your wings that I liked?
Where are your wings that I liked?
I don’t ask how much money you have,
I don’t ask how many husbands.
I see that you fear open windows
And upper floors.
And if tomorrow an inferno begins,
And the entire building is in flames,
We will perish without those wings
that I liked.
Where are your wings that I liked?
Where are your wings that I liked?
Крылья
Ты снимаешь вечернее платье,
стоя лицом к стене,
И вижу свежие шрамы
на гладкой, как бархат, спине.
Мне хочется плакать от боли
или забыться во сне.
Кстати, где твои крылья которые
так нравились мне?
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Раньше у нас было время,
теперь у нас есть дела
Доказывать, что сильный жрёт слабых,
доказывать, что сажа бела.
Мы все потеряли что-то
на этой безумной войне.
Кстати, где твои крылья,
которые нравились мне?
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Я не спрашиваю, сколько у тебя денег,
не спрашиваю, сколько мужей.
Я вижу, ты боишься открытых окон
и верхних этажей.
И если завтра начнётся пожар,
и всë здание будет в огне,
Мы погибнем без этих крыльев,
которые нравились мне.
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Где твои крылья, которые нравились мне?
Vocab notes
снимать АЙ / снять НИМend: to take off • вечерний: adj. of вечер: evening • платье: dress • стоя: verbal adverb from стоять ЖАend: to be in a standing position • лицо: face • стена: wall • видеть Е / увидеть Е: to see / to catch sight of • свежий: fresh • шрам: scar • гладкий: smooth • бархат: velvet • спина: back • плакать А / заплакать А: to cry / to begin to cry • боль, и: pain • забываться АЙ / забыться: to “forget oneself,” i.e. to sink into oblivion • сон: sleep, dream • кстати: by the way, speaking of which • крыло (pl. крылья): wing • нравиться И / понравиться И кому: to be pleasing to, to “like” • раньше: previously, before • теперь: now • время, времени: time • дело: business, matter, affair (something to do) • доказывать АЙ / доказать Аshift: to try to prove / to prove (successfully) • сильный: strong • слабый: weak • жрать n/sA (жру, жрёшь) / сожрать: to devour (to eat like an animal) • сажа: ash • белый: white • терять АЙ / потерять АЙ: to lose • безумный: mad, insane • война: war • спрашивать АЙ / спросить Иshift: to ask • сколько: how much, how many • деньги (денег): money • муж (pl. мужья): husband • бояться ЖАend чего: to be afraid of • открытый: PPP of открывать АЙ / открыть ОЙstem: to open • окно: window • верхний: upper • этаж: floor (of a building) • начинаться АЙ / начаться /Нend: to begin (intransitive) • пожар: (house)fire, inferno • здание: building • огонь, огня: fire, flame • гибнуть (НУ) / погибнуть (НУ): to perish, die
