Priča o Vasi Ladačkom [English translation]

D'you know the story of Vasa Ladački? I too had heard it just a while ago

For nine days once he hadn't left the tavern, they say he was a strange sort

His father was a simple farmer, feeding seven hungry mouths

His mother was blonde, quiet, gentle, suffered from tuberculosis

She died at thirty and some

They had a couple acres of land, a small house at the end of the street

Bread was always on the table, just enough as was needed

But Vasa always wanted so much more...

He wanted black stallions, prancing in the meadow

A pocket-watch on a golden chain, and estates

He wanted fertile fields, verdant vineyards

And horse-drawn carriages, but he could not have them

He had loved a girl, beautiful but poor, and he'd wed her, if only he had known:

You love but once in life, now rich or poor

It's not for mind to choose, but the heart

He had hoped that the love will disappear. Forever he had left the village

He never wrote to anyone, he married for dowry

Some landlord's only daughter

He got the black stallions, prancing in the meadow

A pocket-watch on a golden chain, and estates

He got the fertile fields, the verdant vineyards

And horse-drawn carriages, he had everything - he had nothing

He'd given in to drinking, not long had passed, he had sold his soul to the Devil

All the tavern patrons knew him, he sought deliverance at the bottom of the glass

But he could never find it...

He was still young, they say, even when he died, in the tavern, of a heart attack

His head just dropped, as though napping, as though sleeping

And they all still remember what he last said:

What good are the black stallions, prancing in the meadow

What good's a pocket watch and the estates

What good are the fertile fields, verdant vineyards

What good carriages and horses

When I'm not with the one that I love

When I'm not with the one that I love

When I'm not with the one that I love

Eh, when I'm not with the one that I love

D'you know the story of Vasa Ladački? I too had heard it just a while ago

Even those similar to him, when they think about it all

Say that he was truly a strange sort