Serdtse

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Serdtse (Russian: Сердце, English translation: "Heart") is in its version sung by Pyotr Leshchenko one of the most frequently performed Argentine Tango songs not sung in the Spanish language.

1 Title
2 Lyrics
3 Other versions
4 Arguments
5 External links

[edit] Title

Originally the song was known as Как много девушек хороших (Such a lot of nice girls). It was written by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach for the 1934 Soviet fim musical Jolly Fellows. The music was by Isaak Dunayevsky. The first singer of the song was Leonid Utyosov.

In 1935, Pyotr Leshchenko started to sing the song in Argentine tango fashion. Although music by Leshchenko was officially disliked in the Soviet Union, the version as sung by Leshchenko gradually became the norm. However, in the former Soviet Union, the song is still perceived as a traditional Russian romance, whereas elsewhere in the world, the song is seen exclusively as an Argentine tango song.^{[citation needed]} This tango version was always known as "Serdtse". The title change may actually have been a simple mistake, since "Serdtse" was also the title of another song in the musical.

In 1984, a collection of songs and poems by Vasily Lebedev-Kumach was published in Moscow. The text of this song was arranged in the Leshchenko fashion, but the title was quoted as "Kak horosho na svete zhit' !" (How great it is to be alive!)[1]

The Russian Romance version of the song has been translated in Polish as "Jak wiele jest ładnych dziewczyn".

[edit] Lyrics

(A)Kak mnogo devushek horoshih

Kak mnogo laskovyh imyon

No lish' odno iz nih trevozhit

Unosya pokoy i son - kogda vlyublyon

(B)Lyubov nechayanno nagryanet

kogda eyo sovsem ne zhdyosh

i kazhdyi vecher srazu stanet

Udivitel'no horosh - i ty poyosh'

(R)Serdtse - tebe ne hochetsya pokoya

Serdtse - kak horosho na svete zhit'

Serdtse - kak horosho chto ty takoe

Spasibo serdtse, chto ty umeesh' tak lyubit'

(the whole song is then repeated instrumentally only, except for the last two lines)

Translation:

There're so many nice girls!

There're so many endearing names!

But only one of them bothers me,

keeping away my calm and sleep - when I am in love.

Love accidentally takes you by the throat

when you least expect it

and every evening immediately gets

wonderfully nice - and then you sing

Heart - there is no way to keep you calm

Heart - how great it is to be alive in this world

Heart - how great it is that you are like that

Thank you, heart, for being so good at the art of love

[edit] Other versions

The original version was sometimes sung with a refrain after both A and B. [2]

The Russian pop group Aqvarium in its 1996 rendition replaced the second (instrumental) part with

(C)Ya Vam pishu, chego ty bole?

Chto ya mogu eshcho skazat'?

Теper' ya znayu - v Vashey vole

Меnya prezren'em nakazat'

(D)Nо mimо teshchinogo doma

Ya vsyo zh bez shutok ne hozhu:

То "Тihiy Don" v оknо zаsunu

То "Kаmа-Sutru" pоkаzhu.

(followed by a complete Serdtse refrain) [3]

Note that Akvarium called the song "Serdtse/Kak mnogo devushek horoshih". In the same year, Sergey Penkin did the same.

Line 3 and 4 of A are sometimes, e.g. by Konstantin Sokolsky rendered as:

"no lish' odno menya trevozhit

otgonyaya noch' i son, kogda vlyublyon"

While the second change ("chasing away my nightly sleep") does not affect the meaning, dropping "of them" in the third line may actually mean that the singer is not troubled by a girl's name, but by something else.

The film Jolly Fellows was shown in Tel-Aviv and the Israeli poet Nathan Alterman wrote new lyrics to be used in the musical "Tel-Aviv Ha'Ktana", entitling the song "Rina". The new words are a sardonic dialogue between two lovers.

[edit] Arguments

Apart from the argument about the title, and about the original text (some sources say the author of the lyrics had a longer text in mind) there is also a problem with the exact meaning of the word "nice" ("horoshiy"). Some translate as "good, well-mannered" (not naughty - a humorous approach), others translate as "pretty".

The song has been claimed as typically Ukrainian, Odessite, Jewish and Roma (sometimes at the same time). Three of the artists involved in the genesis were in fact Russian-speaking Ukrainians: the composer who was of Jewish descent (but from Kharkiv), and the two singers who were from Odessa or born nearby.