Песня о сентиментальном боксёре [Pesnya o sentimental'nom boxere] [English translation]

A blow, a blow ... another blow ...

Again a blow - and look

Boris Budkyeev (Krasnodar)

Conducted an uppercut.

He drove me there into the corner,

Here I almost went ...

There is the uppercut - I am on the floor,

And not feeling well!

And I thought Budkyeev had smashed my jaw:

And to live is all right and life is good!

By the counting of "seven" I still lie -

My fellow-countrymen are sobbing.

I stand, dive, reach out -

And get points.

That's not true, it seems at the end

I am careful with my strength, -

To beat a man in the face

I couldn't do since childhood.

But I thought Budkyeev had crashed my ribs:

And to live is all right and life is good!

And the spectators whistle and the spectators howl:

"Tally-ho, he is a coward!"

Budkyeev forces me to a short- range fight -

And I am squeezed to the ropes.

But he gets through - he is a Sibirian,

They are persistent,

And I tell him: - "Freak!

You are tired after all - rest!"

But he didn't listen, - he was thinking, breathing hard,

That to live is all right and life is good.

And he beat - healthy devil! -

I see there's trouble brewing.

Boxing after all is no fight, it's sport

For the brave and so on.

There he beat once, twice, thrice -

And ... I am myself deprived of my strength.

The referee has held up my hand,

The one I could not beat with.

He lay and thought, that life is good.

For some it is good - and for others damn all.

• Artist:Vladimir Vysotsky
• Album:1966