BULAT OKUDZHAVAOur Tenth Amphibious Battalion Victory Day

Translated by  John Catalinotto 

Bulat Shalvovich Okudzhava (1924-1997) was a Soviet singer-songwriter of Georgian origin, one of the founders of the Russian genre called "author's song" (avtorskaya pesnya). He wrote some 200 songs, a mixture of Russian poetry and folk traditions and the French chansonnier style, represented by such Okudzhava contemporaries as Georges Brassens.
Although his songs were never overtly political (in contrast to those of his fellow bards), the freshness and independence of Okudzhava's art represented a subtle challenge to the Soviet cultural authorities, who for many years refused to give official sanction to his songs.

   

 

The birds aren't singing here,

The trees aren't growing
And only we, shoulder to shoulder
Are growing here in the earth.
The earth lit up is spinning,
Smoke covers  our homeland.
And thus, we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

As soon as the battle ceases
Another order comes
The postman will go crazy
Looking for us.
Let red rockets fly,
Fire off the machine guns.
And thus, we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

From Kursk and Orel
The war has brought us
Up to the doors of our enemy.
That's how it is, brother…
Someday we'll remember it
And we won't believe it ourselves,
But now we need a victory,
One for all. We're ready to pay any price!

(Chorus) A fiery death awaits us
Yet that can't stop us.
Cast doubt away
Journey into night
Separately
Our tenth
Amphibious Batallion.
Our tenth
Amphibious battalion.

Min. 36:00