Цифры и цвета [Tsifry i tsveta] [English translation]

I was growing up alone, only Two Captains1, Three Musketeers, and

Four Tankmen2 made the picture brighter,

I was 5, I was an ugly swan duckling,

From 6 to 7 years I hated studying

An 8-shaped wheel, a 93 was burned in the yard

9 1⁄2 Weeks4 explained everything pretty clearly

I counted to 10, fuck hide and seek

Every autumn on 11th, I used to throw a paper airplane in the house in front of mine5

They say you fell on your knees 12 times to get to the top

I watched Friday 13, then there were immigration and capture

And I was thrown around in it. When I was 14, I felt like I was 886.

Wait, I lost count, phone numbers are screaming

38 parrots7, 44 goldfinches8, someone gets 1001 nights with you and I get none

Hello, bottom, 20000 Leagues Under The Sea9

These numbers and colors, thousands of quotes, visas, and passports –

Everything will fade away without a trace

And everything I experienced – all faces and wandering, luxury and poverty –

Everything will be saved only in my texts

I was green when money was called black cash10

When the White House11 was either yellow12 or reddish-brown13

The beamer was black14, Sasha – White15, and the press was yellow

When Megapolis Express was writing about black masses 16

When your jacket was supposed to be crimson red17

When I was obsessed with White Sun of The Desert18 and Yellow Submarine19

I left my home and was powerless to do something about it

And every red-letter day20 I was blue 21 with Sery22

The green snake23 and red eyes from Purple Haze24

I'm 26, one more year and I'm Curt Cobain25.

And for so long I've been a black sheep, an outsider

Among blue blood, white bone, golden youth

And here I am, no longer green, but still not old

Neither a blue nor a white-collar

But my world is grey because she's not in my bed

Hello from the bottom, where there's no place for pastel colors26.

These numbers and colors, thousands of quotes, visas, and passports –

Everything will fade away without a trace

And everything I experienced – all faces and wandering, luxury and poverty –

Everything will be saved only in my texts.

1. The Two Captains (Russian: Два Капитана) is a novel written by Soviet author Veniamin Kaverin between 1938 and 1944.2. Four tankmen and a dog - a book by Janusz Przymanowski3. A colloquial name for VAZ-2109 «Sputnik»4. 9 1⁄2 Weeks is a 1986 American erotic romantic drama film5. Reference to September 11th6. When Oxxxymiron moved to Germany, he experienced racism7. a Russian cartoon series. One can call talkative and annoying people parrots.8. 44 Cheerful Goldfinches is a poem by Marshak and Harms. Goldfinches probably symbolize close friends of Miron.9. Reference to a classic science fiction adventure novel by French writer Jules Verne10. black cash - money not registered by tax authorities. This term was commonly used by the businessmen of the post-perestroika period.11. Oxxxymiron means the House of Russian Government, not the White House in the US.12. A yellow house - a colloquial name for a mental hospital.13. a political cliche used for the movement of left-wing fascists14. The Black Beamer is a film about criminal chaos in Russia in the 90-s15. Sasha Bely - one of the characters of the movie The Black Beamer16. Megapolis Express is a cheap Russian tabloid. In 1994 they published an article about satanism and human sacrifices, which was complete nonsense.17. Crimson jackets were popular among Russian criminal bosses in the 90-s18. White Sun of The Desert is a 1970 film of the Soviet Union.19. Yellow Submarine is the tenth studio album by English rock band the Beatles20. That's how Russians call holidays sometimes21. In Russian, "to be blue" means to be drunk22. Sery means gray. It's also a colloquial version of the name Sergey.23. it's a metaphor for alcohol addiction24. Purple haze is a variety of marijuana25. Cobain killed himself at the age of 2726. pastel colors symbolize peace and serenity. Oxxxymiron implies that his life is not calm and peaceful, it's bright and crazy.