SMUGLJANKA
Smugljanka (Смуглянка from смуглый meaning "dark") also referred as Смуглянка-Молдаванка Smugljanka-Moldovanka "the dark Moldovan girl" (dark is the colour of the hair) is a Russian song written in 1940 by Yakov Shvedov (lyrics) and Anatoliy Grigorevich Novikov (tune).
It was written in honour of Grigory Kotovsky, leader of two Moldovan rebellions in Bessarabia Governorate against the Russian Empire in 1905 and 1915. It is written in the style of a traditional Moldovan folk song.
The song was also intended to glorify the female partisans of the Russian Civil War. The lyrics tell how the singer met a pretty girl gathering grapes and tried to seduce her, but how the girl turns out to be a partisan, and convinces him to join the partisans as well.
A very romantic scenario I suppose.
In 1940, songs composed for the troops on the front were supposed to be about revenge and victory. By 1942 however, fashions had changed, and songs with more romantic or lyrical themes were accepted by the military, so Novikov decided to re-release a revised version of the song. But it was banned for two years, and its first performance came in 1944. It was an immediate success. It was now taken as a reference to the then-contemporary Soviet partisans of the Great Patriotic War (World War II).
Russian lyrics:
Как-то летом на рассвете
Заглянул в соседний сад,
Там смуглянка-молдаванка
Собирает виноград.
Я краснею, я бледнею,
Захотелось вдруг сказать:
"Станем над рекою
Зорьки летние встречать!"
ПРИПЕВ:
Раскудрявый клён зелёный, лист резной,
Здесь у клёна мы расстанемся с тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудярвый, резной!
А смуглянка-молдаванка
Отвечала парню в лад:
"Партизанский молдаванский
Собираем мы отряд.
Нынче рано партизаны
Дом покинули родной.
Ждёт тебя дорога
К партизанам в лес густой"
Раскудрявый клён зелёный, лист резной,
Здесь у клёна мы расстанемся с тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудярвый, резной!
И смуглянка-молдаванка
По тропинке в лес ушла.
В том обиду я увидел
Что с собой не позвала.
О смуглянке-молдаванке
Часто думал по ночам.
Вдруг свою смуглянку
Я в отряде повстречал!
Раскудрявый клён зелёный, лист резной,
Здесь у клёна мы расстанемся с тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудярвый, резной!
Раскудрявый клён зелёный, лист резной,
Здесь у клёна мы расстанемся с тобой.
Клён зелёный, да клён кудрявый,
Да раскудярвый, резной!
Translated:
One fine morning, just at daybreak,
I looked o'er my neighbour's wall.
Saw a maiden with her burden,
Dark eyes and a scarlet shawl.
My blood rushed, I blushed with passion,
Suddenly the words burst out:
– Let us go together
To a place I know about!
Tender, yearning, curling round our ardent joy
Fronds entwining, you're my girl and I'm your boy.
Leaves of maple and boughs of apple
That none can ever destroy.
But the dark-eyed tender maiden
Sharply then to me replied:
"Partisans for truth and freedom
Call on you to choose a side.
On this morn, the clans are gath’ring;
Burnt out from their buts and bens.
Fiery cross is calling
Through the forests and the glens."
Tender, yearning, curled round our ardent joy.
In the forest, I’m no girl and you’re no boy.
Leaves of maple and boughs of apple,
That none can ever destroy.
Then I watched my dark-eyed maiden
Walk into the woods alone.
But her leaving caused my grieving
And my heart it turned to stone.
Often late at night I wandered
In the forest, through the glen –
Then I spied my maiden
With her band of merry men!
Tender, yearning, curling round our ardent joy
Welcome comrade, you’re a man now, not a boy!
Leaves of maple and boughs of apple,
That none can ever destroy.
Tender, yearning, yes, curling round our ardent joy.
Welcome comrade, you’re a man now, not a boy!
Leaves of maple and boughs of apple,
That none can ever destroy.
