So, one of my all-time favorite songs is a Russian piece by Vladimir Lantsberg, called Green Train. I wish to gush a little bit about it, since it is so close to me. In fact, I made a translation of it into English, and I want to post the lyrics here.
The blind sunset finally burned out
And crankily, from the old depot
The green train is chugging out
And from the bridge I watch it go
It’s way lies north, while I go left
These days hardly anyone goes right
I’m stuck at home. I feel so bereft
My job and my sloth are such a plight
I’m stuck at home. I feel so bereft
My job and my sloth are such a plight
With its great engines’s roaring sound
A huge jetliner goes flying free.
While lady fortune turns round and round
Until she turns her back on me.
But I’m not prideful, I’m just so busy
A special order ties me to the earth
While all my goals and my intentions
Slowly gather dust and lose their worth
While all my goals and my intentions
Slowly gather dust and lose their worth
Angry gray waters gnaw at the boulders
Someone’s deficient, someone’s given hugs
While I skeptically shrug my shoulders
Cause someone really needs to shrug
So go and bite your elbow for a while
Or be political and stay woke
I’ll be busy and with a dumb smile
Ill watch my dreams go up in smoke
I’ll be busy and with a dumb smile
Ill watch my dreams go up in smoke
Someone goes north and I’ll go left
But hardly anyone goes right
I’m stuck at home, I feel so bereft
My job and my sloth are such a plight
And my desires are such a pain.
The desire for that oh so far away north
In the distance I see a green train
It’s chugging on for all it’s worth.
In the distance I see a green train
It’s chugging on for all it’s worth.
Now, this song is what people in the modern day would call “an oldie” as it was written all the way back in 1971, and does not come with any fancy musical accompaniment. In fact , it is meant to be simply strummed on a guitar, which gives it a nostalgic, but also slightly melancholic feel, something which the lyrics reflect. I remember that I would listen to this song as my cousin would sing it, while we took the train to the countryside, and I’d sing along. Those were some of the best years of my life, and whenever I reminisce about them, this song, and the green train, always end up chugging their way through my thoughts.
I have many other songs that I have since translated and many others genres I love, but I think that this one will forever remain as one of my favorites.