Russia is waging a disgraceful war on Ukraine.     Stand With Ukraine!
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Grab your trenchcoat, we're going home

You and I, brother, are from the infantry,
and summers are better than winters.
We've settled our score with the war,
grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
The war has bent and worn us down,
yet even war has met an end.
Your mother was four years without her son,
grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
Our streets are burned to the ground,
still again, again, my comrade,
the lost starlings have come back to them.
Grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
Now you're sleeping with closed eyes
under a plywood star1
Stand up, stand up, brother,
grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
What will I say to your relatives?
How could I face your widow?
You can't pledge in the name of yesterday.
Grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
We are all the accidental children of war,
generals and privates alike.
Spring rises again over the snow,
grab your trenchcoat, we're going home!
 
  • 1. many Soviet soldiers graves bore a pyramid with a red star
Original lyrics

Бери шинель, пошли домой

Click to see the original lyrics (Russian)

Comments
Sophia_Sophia_
   Thu, 20/08/2015 - 16:04

I think "you and me" sounds better in English.

Sophia_Sophia_
   Thu, 20/08/2015 - 16:06

К золе и к пеплу наших улиц
Скворцы пропавшие вернулись,--->
the lost starlings have returned to the ashes of our streets

Олег Л.Олег Л.    Fri, 22/12/2017 - 16:25

I think "шальные" means "случайные" in this context.
Of course, it's difficult to translate "неужто клясться днем вчерашним?"
I think, It means" говорить, что еще вчера он был жив".

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:23

I think the main thought is that there's no need to swear by anything when it's already late.
Other possible meanings are subject to be perceived individually.
But there's no associations with bad curses for sure.

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:09

Hi! I think "curse the days of old" goes a bit wrong way here. It should be "swear by the day past" or "swear by yesterday, days of old, and so on".
And also in Line 1 of Stanza 2 it should be definitely "The war".
And it's better to say "We've settled our score" just before this.
And it would be better to make a wider use of the Present Perfect tense here, because the song bears a kind of "momentary" hue, giving a vivid picture of the Victory Day, so longed-for, but nevertheless so bitter at the moment.

sandringsandring    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:22

Should I pledge in the name of yesterday?

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:37

The natives would say this either, because "pledge" is stuck to the future while "yesterday" lies in the past. :)
You may wish to ask any of them, BTW.

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:34

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.

T.S. Eliot, Burnt Norton

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:46

Well, you see, this whole song is a kind of boldly minted 'today' surrounded by a bunch of conditionals: if we stayed there for a next while; if he bent a little bit lower; if I told him that before... - there would be no need to swear, because he would be safe and sound...

sandringsandring    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 07:50

But that's exactly where the trick is both in Russian and English. One can't pledge in the name of yesterday. That's exactly what the author says and means. Anyway, I've sent Pierre all my comments. :)

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 08:02

The trick is rather good, but then it should be "Could I pledge in the name of yesterday?" because he's wondering in the song.

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 08:26

Well, try to imagine a surgeon coming out of the theatre with his patient lying dead. And imagine he would swear that 'they did their best' as if it could be of any help for the relatives.
There are some situations where words could not console... But nevertheless we are obliged to say something...

BratBrat    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 09:34

Of course you couldn't see it, because there's no place for pledges of any kind. It's too late...
You'd brew a mixture of what is possible, what is likely to happen and what is totally impossible in the given curcumstances to produce a kind of rendition.
That's why I suggested that he'd "swear" by the days past.
There are, basically, two main problems:
1. To avoid allusions to offensive swearing, because this would be said as "клясть" in Russian. (it is quite an easy task, though)
2. To make it obvious that this "swearing" is as needful as it is at the same time useless, and, generally, senseless (but at the same time NOT ridiculous).
Here lies the algorithm you should follow to make a good translation of the song.

sandringsandring    Tue, 16/01/2018 - 09:54

What's meant in here is a pledge any son takes before going to war, i.e. to return home