Русская Душа [Russkaya Dusha] [English translation]

One shouldn't ask us like this, there's an extra (sense) in phrase:

"Are you afraid to jump from a bridge?"

Afraid, me? I’m Russian!

The one can't get us with his mind alone1, we’re neither West, nor the East

There’s a Russian spirit2 - a strong specific smell

Yank is a noun, Russian's an adjective,

An extra swear word is added for free

You fight to the first blood while we to the last

We build to last for centuries and it all fades without a trace

We act first and think afterwards

We live only once, after us, the deluge

To be or not to be - that's not a question, let’s do it!

No matter how much grave dangers exist, you die only once3

We dunno how to live, but we know how to survive,

Where red crayfish winter and who is Kuzma’s mother4

We can take every business further …till total mayhem

And the goal of our existence is to demonstrate you what not to do

What to do and what not to do…

Chorus:

So it tears itself to pieces

Destroying everything and everyone around,

It doesn’t know a different way of living, that simple

Russian soul... (I've) Russian soul... (I've) Russian soul!

Seems NATO sort of gone astray

Seems you, guys, went so far...Is that's what you really need?

Your “fuck you” is just a baby-talk in comparison with Russian "Mat"5 

We're wearing sailor tops6 and each of us is like a monkey with grenade

Russians don’t give up7 and don’t retreat

We only understand when we’re beaten to death

We love to learn and yet hate when one lecture us

He, who wounds by the sword, will be punched to his mouth8

We are dangerous!9 But so far we have less to aspire,

As we lay on a stove10 waiting for a miracle under God’s wing,

Let us do whatever (we want) and we’ll stay at home.

Why would one cross himself, if there is no thunder?11

[Chorus]

 

A wounded beast is twice as dangerous as fire12

(If) he believes at last he’s at war,

Then we’re all troopers, 9th Company,13

Uncle Sam, you made a patriot from me!

Just get it, idiots - if you try to humiliate Russia,

It becomes even more Red-White-Blue14

And much stronger, and if necessary as easy as one-two

Two-headed Eagle15 will grow himself the third one

[Chorus]

[Chorus]

1. - slightly transformed quotation: "The one can't get (=understand) Russia with his mind alone" from a F.Tyutchev’s poem http://www.ruthenia.ru/tiutcheviana/publications/trans/umomrossiju.html#en2. - a reference to Russian folk tales, where witch (Baba Yaga) discovers a hero, who hides in her cabin, by his ‘Russian spirit” (=smell) 3. - slightly transformed Russian saying4. - а reference to Russian sayings "показать, где раки зимуют"("to show (one) where crayfish winter") and "показать "Кузькину мать" ('to show Kuzma's mother"), both sayings mean "to cruelly punish, to cause problems to somebody". See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuzma%27s_mother5. - “Mat” - swear words6. - reference to a Russian saying "Нас мало, но мы в тельняшках" = "We are few, but we're wearing sailor tops" (= We are few, but we're toughies) , a quotation from Soviet patriotic movie "We are from Kronshtadt" (1936)7. - motto derived from a WW1 episode, so-called “The Attack Of The Dead Men”(1915). See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_of_the_Dead_Men8. - a complicated play on words.

It is a merging of two Biblical quotations "Кто к нам с мечом придёт, от меча и погибнет" ("He who wounds by the sword, dies by the sword") and "Перековать мечи на орала"("To beat swords into plougshares") = "He, who wounds by the sword, will be punched (=beaten) to his mouth" (the archaic Russian word "орало" ("plough") also may be associated with vulgar Russian verb "орать" ("to shout"), so "орало" here obtains a humorous meaning "mouth")9. - a misprint in original lyrics, correct line is: "Мы опасны! Покуда, нам не надо много"10. - traditional Russian stove has a place on it’s top for cosy and comfortable sleeping. Russian saying "лежать на печи" ("lay on a top of a stove") = "keep lazy and inactive"11. - а reference to a Russian saying "Пока гром не грянет - мужик не перекрестится" = "Farmer don’t care to cross himself unless there’s no thunder strike" (about one who react after the event or when is forced to, instead of planning and preparing)12. - a misprint in original lyrics, “огнеопаснее” instead of “огня опаснее”13. - а reference to an episode in Soviet-Afghan War “Battle for Hill 3234”, the defensive battle of a Soviet Airborne Troops 9th Company against a force of some 250 Mujahideen rebels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_for_Hill_323414. = even more patriotic or chauvinistic, Red-White-Blue are the colors of a Russian flag15. - emblem of Russian Federation