MIA: History: Soviet History: Sounds of the Soviet Union: Lyrics

 

Дубинушка (Dubinushka) / Little club
(mp3)


 

 

Много песен слыхал я в родной стороне

I have heard many songs all around the land

Mnogo pesen slykhal ia v rodnoj storone

В них про радость, про горе мне пели,

They have told me of blithe and of woe

V nikh pro radost, pro gore mne peli,

Но из песен одна в память врезалась мне

But my memory holds just one song of them all

No iz pesen odna v pamiat vrezalas mne

Это песня рабочей артели.

That's the song of the body of workers.

Ehto pesnia rabochej arteli.

 

 

 

 

Припев: 

Refrain:

Pripev:

 

 

Эх, дубинушка, ухнем! 

Hey, Dubina, the green one!

Ehkh, dubinushka, ukhnem! 

Эх, зеленая сама пойдет! 

Hey, you, help us do the labor hard, the labor hard!

Ehkh, zelenaia, sama pojdet, sama pojdet!

Подернем, подернем, 

We pull it, and pull it,

Podernem, podernem,

Да ухнем! 

And move it!

Da ukhnem! 

 

 

 

 

Anglichanin, khitrec, chtob rabote pomoch',

Canny Englishmen did tons of gadgets invent

Izobryol za mashinoj mashinu.

As to do all the labors routinely.

A rossijskij muzhik, kol' rabotat' nevmoch',

Russian men strive with hands till they're tired to death

Tak zatyanet rodnuyu "Dubinu".

Then they sing their hearts with "Dubina"!

 

 

 

 

No nastanet pora, i prosnyotsya narod,

Oh, new times, come to us! When the workers wake up,

Razognyot on moguchuyu spinu.

When they straighten the backs from the labor.

I na bar, na boyar i na prochikh gospod

When they crush all who suck their strength, their blood

On podnimet rodnuyu dubinu!

Crush with their beloved Dubina! 

 
 
   
 


"Dubina" (pronounced doo-bee-nah) means "the wooden club". "Dubinushka" (pronounced doo-bee-noosh-kah) is a diminutive form of the same word (note the suffix "-ushk-"). The song is a work song, sung by workers doing hard manual labor, helping them to keep the rythm of their collective efforts. As opposed to the American "Yo-ho-ho, and the bottle of rum", sung by the seamen moving the capstan.

Translated: by Raymond Wickham
Transcription/Markup: Raymond Wickham / Liviu Iacob, 2005