Appears On
Stampeding Horses
Ехали мы, ехали с горки на горку,
Да потеряли ось от колеса.
Вышли мы вприсядку, мундиры в оборку;
Солдатики любви - синие глаза...
Как взяли - повели нас дорогами странными;
Вели - да привели, как я погляжу;
Сидит птица бледная с глазами окаянными;
Что же, спой мне, птица - может, я попляшу...
Спой мне, птица, сладко ли душе без тела?
Легко ли быть птицей - да так, чтоб не петь?
Запрягай мне, Господи, коней беспредела;
Я хотел пешком, да видно, мне не успеть...
А чем мне их кормить, если кони не сыты?
Как их напоить? - они не пьют воды.
Шелковые гривы надушены, завиты;
Острые копыта, алые следы.
А вот и все мои товарищи - водка без хлеба,
Один брат - Сирин, а другой брат - Спас.
А третий хотел дойти ногами до неба,
Но выпил, удолбался - вот и весь сказ.
Эх, вылетела пташка - да не долетела;
Заклевал коршун - да голубя.
Запрягли, взнуздали мне коней беспредела,
А кони понесли - да все прочь от тебя...
Метились мы в дамки, да масть ушла мимо;
Все козыри в грязи, как ни крути.
Отче мой Сергие, отче Серафиме!
Звезды - наверху, а мы здесь - на пути...
Notes
One possible interpretation:
Devastating. If Russian were my native language I'd cry too.
In the first stanza historical Russia (symbolized by the carriage, the village dance) has broken down, lost it's way, gone astray. And rather than traveling under it's own volition it's now being "taken" or "led" somewhere against it's will. The pale bird with the star-crossed (lit. "cursed") eyes, is the promise of a new Russia, a democratized (?) Russia that is as yet voiceless, a disembodied soul. The Koni Bespredela are the crony capitalism thrust upon Russia in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the life that looks so pretty, smells so sweet, and leaves a trail of blood.
New Russia, of course, doesn't get very far before it is beset on all sides, both by the deliberately destructive and by the innocently destructive ("Pecked by a kite and even by doves"). And the Stampeding Horses (capitalists) carry everything away. This is because Russia never really understood the game (stanza 6) and the goals were never really worth attaining ("And the trumps are all filthy, however chic"). Or something like that.
A Note on the Translation of the Song's Name:
Source of much debate. Anger and fire among the gods. The more usual translation, blessed by BG, is "The Mares of Total Abandon," or some close variant thereof. But we Bodhisattvas feel that Boris—who has for all ordinary purposes an excellent grasp of English—nevertheless doesn't feel how utterly comical that sounds in English. This would be OK, of course, if it were a comical song...but it is anything but. So after having tried, argued over, and ultimately rejected any number of English expressions of the idea ("Horses Running Amok," "Horses Out of Control," "Horses Out of Bounds," "Mares of Mayhem" etc.) we finally settled on "Stampeding Horses," a less literal, but far more resonant-in-English translation. (Russian actually doesn't have a single verb meaning "to stampede"...which is actually another reason why we like this translation.)