Волки и вороны [Volki i vorony] [English translation]

Maybe [it’s] God, and maybe it is just that this night smells of incense

Tall woods around us, dark and covered in moss

It’s either God’s grace, or an ambush for us

Merry to the touch, but [there’s] a draft in the soul

They are walking with icons - with unfamiliar icons

And church lamps shine to them from under dark waters

I do not remember how we got up, how we left the room

I only remember that we have to walk till [we get to] the warm star

Here stands a tall temple, and there is darkness under its dome

We kept looking but could not see a damn thing

I would light a candle, but all the candles are bought [unusual word usage - you would normally say проданы / sold - so there is an allusion to corruption here, in the same way that you would speak of купленые политики - purchased politicians]

I would light ethanol in my palm - but where would I get it from? [it’s not as medical in Russian - spirt is a word in common usage]

And around us there are snows in all four directions

It’s easy to [walk] on snow barefoot if souls are pure

And we would perish altogether if it had not been for wolves and ravens

They asked: “Where are you going? Probably towards/to the warm star?"

They gilded a whole lot of crosses and stuck them in the ground all over the place

And traded for wine the one that had been given

And in the morning, hungover, went to the river to get water

And there instead of water [there is] Mongol Shuudan [maybe an allusion to a late 80s Soviet rock band of the same name, which just means “Mongol Post” and was chosen as an absurd name - but obviously also an allusion to Russia’s history with the Mongols]

And we wanted to give a merry sign to the angels

But we lost sight of them as we covered our tracks

And everyone would get judged according to his deeds [biblical quotation]

If it hadn’t been for the light of this pure/clear star

So what are we to do, how are we to sing if not for the sake of an empty hand? [unclear in Russian also]

But if we do not sing then we burn up in an emptiness [in the sense of physical vacuum]

And if we start singing and don’t finish - then they will come after me [orliki in the original - not a real word, but the same root as орёл (eagle) + a diminutive suffix; за мной придут is a very powerful phrase in Russian with connotations of the KGB and the Gulag]

With white eyes, and upon muddy waters

Well let them come - I myself am a black bird [probably in the sense of someone tough/experienced]

Look, I have nowhere to run - one more meter and ice fields [after that]

So I will cover you and you cover me, wolves and ravens

So that someone makes it to this pure/clear star

So what that there is darkness under the dome?

So what that you cannot see a damn thing?

So what that all the candles are bought

Because if there is no fire we know where to get it

And maybe it is true that there are no ways other than the well-trodden one

And there are no hands for miracles other than those that are pure

But anyway we were only warmed by wolves and ravens

And they blessed us [so that we get] to the pure/clear star

• Artist:Boris Grebenshchikov
• Album:Русский альбом (1992)