{"id":4012,"date":"2012-10-29T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2012-10-29T08:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=4012"},"modified":"2014-07-17T18:58:46","modified_gmt":"2014-07-17T18:58:46","slug":"karaoke-in-russian-or-at-least-faking-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/karaoke-in-russian-or-at-least-faking-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Karaoke in Russian (or at least “faking it”)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pick the correct song lyrics:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u266a\u266b Those were the days, my friend, we thought they’d never end… \u266a\u266b<\/li>\n
  2. \u266a\u266b \u0414\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0439 \u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e \u0438 \u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0447\u044c\u044e \u043b\u0443<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e…<\/b> \u266a\u266b<\/li>\n
  3. \u266a\u266b Try our ge-fil<\/i>-te fish, it’s such a ta<\/i>-sty dish… \u266a\u266b<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In fact, all three lines — along with many other variants in dozens of languages — have been sung to the exact same melody. It turns out that although very few Russian tunes can be found on karaoke machines in the English-speaking world, you can “fake it,” because there are some classic Soviet pop-ditties whose Russian lyrics can be sung to the same melodies as English songs. You can even pair up with some friends who don’t know Russian, and take turns singing the verses in two different languages.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    Your safest bet, of course, is “Those Were the Days,” aka “The Tavern,” which was a monster hit for Mary Hopkins in 1968 — I think you’d have trouble finding a karaoke machine anywhere in the world that doesn’t<\/i> include this song.<\/p>\n

    And I’m sure most students of Russian are aware that the American composer (one Gene Raskin) actually ripped off<\/span> borrowed<\/i> the tune from an “anon. & trad. Russian melody” called \u00ab\u0414\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0439 \u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e\u00bb<\/b><\/span>. But maybe you didn’t know that \u00ab\u0414\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0439 \u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e\u00bb<\/b> is NOT actually a traditional folk-song by “Ivan Anonymousovich” — mind you, it really does come from Russia, but it only goes back to the Jazz Age, having been written (and copyrighted) in the 1920s by the team of \u0411\u043e\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0441 \u0424\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043d<\/b> and \u041a\u043e\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0430\u043d\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u043d \u041f\u043e\u0434\u0440\u0435\u0432\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439<\/b>.<\/p>\n

    Even so, in an ironic twist, Mr. Raskin was able to sue successfully for copyright infringement after an American kosher-food manufacturer used only the melody<\/i> — which was, of course, the creation of Boris Fomin, not Gene Raskin — for the “gefilte fish” ad jingle mentioned above!<\/p>\n

    Over the years, \u00ab\u0414\u043e\u0440\u043e<\/span>\u0433\u043e\u0439 \u0434\u043b\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u043d\u043e\u044e\u00bb<\/b> has been covered by countless Russian vocalists, both male and female. (Some of whom, in another irony, sing Podrevsky’s original Russian lyrics to Raskin’s very-slightly-altered<\/span> American version of Fomin’s melody, as made world-famous by Welsh singer Hopkins!) But after listening to various artists on YouTube, I’ll cast my vote for the high-energy “I’m too sexy for my \u0448\u0443<\/span>\u0431\u0430<\/b><\/span>” performance by pop-star \u0421\u0435\u0440\u0433\u0435\u0439 \u041b\u0430\u0437\u0430\u0440\u0435\u0432<\/b>:<\/p>\n