by Kino
“Zvezda po imeni Solntse” (“A Star Called the Sun”) is the title song of Kino's 1989 album, the last the band released in Viktor Tsoi's lifetime. Tsoi wrote it while filming The Needle (1988), in which he starred, and the song is heard in that film. In our translation a city sits in a loop of roads on cracked, snowy earth under yellow smoke. For two thousand years it has lived under a star named the Sun, and for as long there has been war for no particular reason. Red blood becomes plain earth within an hour; in two hours flowers and grass grow on it, and in three it is alive again. The last verse describes someone who lives by different rules, remembers neither ranks nor names, can reach the stars, and falls scorched by the Sun.
Koinei's own English translation. The original Russian lyrics are not shown on this page: open the reader to follow them word by word with the audio.
White snow, gray ice
On the cracked earth
Like a patchwork blanket on it
The city's caught in a road loop
And over the city clouds float
Blocking the heavenly light
But over the city, yellow smoke
The city's two thousand years old
Lived under the light of a star named the Sun
And two thousand years of war
War for no particular reason
War is a young man’s business
Medicine against wrinkles
Red, red blood
In an hour it's already just earth
In two hours there are flowers and grass on it
In three hours it's alive again
And warmed by the rays of a star named the Sun
And we know, that it's always been that way
That those more favored by fate who live by different rules and are destined to die young
He remembers not the word "yes" nor the word "no"
He remembers neither ranks, nor names
And is able to reach the stars
Not thinking it's a dream
And to fall, scorched by a star called the Sun
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| лоскутный | loskutny | patchwork | adjective | лоскутным: instrumental, singular, neuter |
| город | gorod | city | noun | город: nominative, singular, masculine |
| тысяча | tysyacha | thousand | noun | тысячи: genitive, singular, feminine |
| звезда | zvezda | star | noun | звезды: genitive, singular, feminine |
| имя | imya | name | noun | имени: dative, singular, neuter |
| солнце | solntse | Sun | noun | Солнце: nominative, singular, neuter |
| война | voyna | war | noun | война: nominative, singular, feminine |
| молодой | molodoy | young | adjective | молодых: genitive, plural |
| красный | krasny | red | adjective | красная: nominative, singular, feminine |
| помнить | pomnit | to remember | verb | помнит: present, 3rd person, imperfective; here “remembers” |
| дотянуться | dotyanutsya | to reach | verb | дотянуться: infinitive, reflexive, perfective; here “to stretch” |
| опалённый | opalyonny | scorched | participle | опалённым: instrumental, past, passive |
«по имени» (po imeni) “by the name of”
Имени is a form of имя (name), one of about ten neuter nouns ending in -мя that add -ен- before their endings: имени in the singular, имена in the plural, and имён, “of names”, which the song also uses. Время (time) works the same way, so “of time” is времени. По имени literally means “by name” and is used like the English “named” or “called”.
«две тысячи лет» (dve tysyachi let) “two thousand years”
To give an age, Russian puts the person or thing in the dative, so the line literally says “to the city, two thousand years”: the city is in the dative case. Numbers also govern the noun after them: две (two) takes the genitive singular, тысячи, and тысяча (thousand) takes the genitive plural of год (year), which is the special form лет. So “I am twenty” is мне двадцать лет.
«Через час» (Cherez chas) “in an hour”
Через means “through” or “across”, but with a length of time it means “after” or “in”: через час, “in an hour”, and через два, “in two”. It takes the accusative, which for час (hour) looks like the nominative. Do not confuse it with за час, “within an hour”, which says how long something takes rather than when it happens.
«умирать молодым» (umirat molodym) “to die young”
Молодым is the instrumental of молодой (young). With verbs such as умирать (to die), вернуться (to return) or стать (to become), the instrumental describes the state a person is in: умереть молодым, “to die young”. In the song the infinitive comes with кому (to whom) in the dative, a pattern for what someone is fated to do: кому умирать means “who is to die”.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.