“The war took away the soldiers” It is the second good song from the post-WWII movie “Na voine kak na voine” (“At war is at war”) - the first, very famous song from this movie is "Tanks Were Rattling in a Field" ("Na pole tanki grokhotali"). This movie is a about a few days of the life of the crew of a Soviet self-propelled gun in the summer offensive of 1943. The melody of the song is a very sad. And I am not sure that the Westerners will understand the meaning of the song so I’ll try to explain it (see the bottom). “The war took away the soldiers” [1] (Translated by Andrey) The fields are pitted, They look in the sky with abandoned look. It is for a few last years When a soldier was not at his home! But somewhere a spring in his homeland is waiting for him, And the talks of his homeland’s birds are waiting for him [2]. But the war took him away; It took him away very far, beyond many forests and mountains… Why did you, war, turn a rye field Into a battlefield? The land is burnt by a fire, The each plot of the land was wounded severely! The land was ploughed for many days Only by tanks and shells. And only wormwood and goose-foot [3] Came up on the land… The land became permeated with the smell of powder, The land forgot the smell of corn. But it wants a warm rain And a blue clear sky [4]! And the land wants the Russian soldiers To return from the far land to their homeland’s sunsets. It wants all the Russian soldiers To return at home from the war… Remarks of Andrey: [1] “The war took away the soldiers” – it means here “the ordinary peaceful people – the peasants - went on the war as soldiers” [2] “But somewhere a spring in his homeland is waiting for him, And the talks of his homeland’s birds are waiting for him.” It means “a soldier went in the war and when he will return at home he will see again a beautiful spring in the homeland and will hear how his homeland’s birds sing.” [3] “wormwood and goose-foot” mean “weeds” here [4] “a warm rain and a blue clear sky” is an excellent weather for growing of corn. The explanation of the meaning of the song: The peasants went on the war as soldiers and no one cultivates the land which turned into a battlefield. The soldiers are very far, in far land and their home land is waiting for them. The destination of the land is to produce corn, to make the peaceful production and not to be a battlefield. The land is tired from the war; the land is wounded severely by the war and is waiting for a peaceful life. The land hopes that all the soldiers will return from the war and a usual peaceful life will begin again. "Uvela soldat voina" Polia izrytye lezhat, Osirotelo smotriat v nebo. Uzhe kotoryi god podriad Doma soldat ne byl! A gde-to zhdiot ego vesna, Ptich'i razgovory, Da uvela ego voina Za lesa, za gory… Zachem ty sdelala voina, Rzhanoe pole - polem brani? Zemlia ogniom obozhzhena, Kazhdyi klochok izranen! Zemliu pakhali mnogo dnei Tanki da snariady, I lish' polyn' vzoshla na nei S lebedoiu riadom… Propakhla porokhom zemlia, Ona zabyla zapakh khleba, A ei by tioplogo dozhdia I golubogo neba! Da chtoby s dal'nei storony Pod svoi zakaty Domoi vernulis' by s voiny Russkie soldaty…