Ada Yakusheva X Roman Polanski – "Alone" | Ада Якушева – Наедене

Ada Yukasheva (Ада Якушева, 1934 - 2012) was a Soviet bard and Russian poet who wrote musically simple, yet lyrically dense music. The first wife of Russian bard Yuri Vizbor, she was writing music and poetry since her days at the Moscow Pedagogical State University.

I am not sure when “Alone” (or “Face-to-Face”, in its double meaning) was written, but it remains one of her best songs. Notice how startling its lyrics are for a love song: from claims to “loving” one’s aloneness, to the poetic descriptions of loneliness (“branches of light beat the wall”), to the abstract construction of a “nation” of emotions and personal associations, to the twist ending. As with some of the love songs of Yuri Vizbor (as well as Ada Yakusheva’s own “In The Stony River”), it take some time to recognize that it is in fact a love song.

The background footage is from Roman Polanski’s “Repulsion” (1965).

Watch our translated playlist of the best Soviet bard music, which features more songs by Ada Yakusheva: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqmUe_MeXGU

Read our in-depth examination of Russian bard music: https://www.automachination.com/russian-bard-soviet-poet-century-tradition/

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Tags: #musicvideo, #russian, #film

Russian & English lyrics:

Ада Якушева – Наедине

Мою страну зовут "Наедине".
В ней прост вопрос и объяснение просто.
Она длиной во много-много дней
И шириной во много перекрестков.

Я так люблю побыть наедине,
Вернувшись ночью в черную квартиру,
Где ветви света вьются по стене
И теплый запах темноты и мира.

Наедине... Побыть наедине...
Нельзя мне с этим не сдружиться нынче.
Я слышу за окном уставший снег
И узнаю в вещах твоих привычки.

Я кожей чую - утро настает,
В нем бьется ветер, северен и нежен.
Ты был иль не был? Бедствие мое...
Ты был иль не был? Жил ты или не жил?...

Ты был, ты был, но это все равно,
Об этом все равно никто не знает.
Наедине зову тебя страной,
И ни на что тебя не променяю...

Ada Yakusheva – Alone

My country is called Alone.
It has a simple question and the explanation's simple.
Its length is many, many days
And its width so many intersections.

I really love to be alone
Returning at night to a black apartment
Where branches of light beat the wall
And the warm smell of darkness and of peace.

Alone... To be alone...
I can't not make peace with this now.
I hear outside the window tired snow
And recognize your habits in things

And feel with my skin that morning comes
Wind beats within it, northern and gentle.
Were you or were you not? My misfortune...
Were you or not? Did you live or not live?

You were, you were, but it doesn't matter,
No one knows about it anyway.
Alone (face-to-face) I call you (my) nation
And won't exchange you for anything...