Червончики [Chervonchiki] [English translation]

I was walking home very late at moonlit night,

Wind-the-wanderer was swinging the street lamps,

And to make my way a bit shorter

I was singing this song to the stars.

Oh, tenners, my dear tenners,1

Ah, my lovely ones, good ones,

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

At times I caressed my luck as it would be my wife,

At times the whip of harms would lash on my back as well,

But I was happy, how could I not be,

'Cause my pocket had always been stuffed.

Oh, with tenners, my dear tenners,1

Ah, my lovely ones, good ones,

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

I used to drink a lot and I used to know pretty women,

I used to make a good jump shot and bank the ball into the side pocket,2

And I didn't spare tenners, someday rich, someday poor,

I didn't care, I liked it any way.

Oh, tenners, my dear tenners,1

Ah, my lovely ones, good ones,

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

Oh, tenners, my dear tenners,1

Ah, my lovely ones, good ones,

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

You're my true friends, with you I'm full and drunk,

Lovely tenners of mine.

1. a. b. c. d. ten-ruble bank notes2. Here is some pool game terminology, thanks to JLY, who helped me to translate this phrase. For those who are not too familiar with billiard or pool, here is an explanation: the idea is that the protogonist would strike a ball so it would jump over other ball then hit another one, and the last ball would hit the table cushion, rebound and hit the center pocket on the opposite side of the table.

• Artist:Alexander Rozenbaum