by Mikhail Krug
“Vladimirsky Central” is a song by Mikhail Krug, a Russian chanson singer from Tver, and one of the best-known songs of the genre. It first appeared on his 1998 album Madam. Vladimir Central is the popular name of a prison in the city of Vladimir. In our translation a prisoner watches spring arrive once more: warm rays peek into his window, his heart aches, and sadness walks with him through memories of a girl he loved long ago and does not have the strength to forget. The chorus names the prison, a northern wind, a transfer from Tver and a heavy burden on his heart. It ends with an image from ochko, the Russian version of twenty-one, where an ace is worth eleven points: what ruins a player is an ace drawn on eleven, which makes twenty-two and loses the hand. Krug was killed in 2002.
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.
Spring has come again
And warm rays
Trustingly peek into my window
My heart aches once more
And sadness creeps into my soul
Walks with me through memories
It stirs them up!
And sins with me
With that girl
I loved so long ago
She left with that girl
She came with that girl
I don't have the strength
Vladimir Central, northern wind
Transferred from Tver
So much evil
A heavy burden lies on my heart
Vladimir Central, northern wind
Though I was gambling
Life was spent
It's not usually the 'jack'
It's the ace at eleven
Under the window, the convict
The thaw is thin
Yet my spring is short-lived my spring
I'm glad to be here
At least there's that
How much I need your love!
Vladimir Central, wind northern! Transferred from Tver, so much evil
A heavy burden lies on my heart
Vladimir Central, wind northern! Though I was gambling, life was spent but it's not usually the 'jack'
It's the ace at eleven
Vladimir Central, wind northern! Transferred from Tver, so much evil
A heavy burden lies on my heart
Vladimir Central, wind northern wind! Though I was life was spent but it's not usually the 'jack'
It's the ace at eleven
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| весна | vesna | spring | noun | весна: nominative, singular, feminine |
| девочка | devochka | girl | noun | девочкой: instrumental, singular, feminine |
| централ | tsentral | central | noun | централ: nominative, singular, masculine |
| ветер | veter | wind | noun | ветер: nominative, singular, masculine |
| северный | severny | northern | adjective | северный: nominative, singular, masculine |
| немерено | nemereno | immeasurably | adverb | немерено |
| лежать | lezhat | to lie | verb | лежит: present, 3rd person, imperfective; here “lies” |
| сердце | serdtse | heart | noun | сердце: prepositional, singular, neuter |
| тяжкий | tyazhkiy | heavy | adjective | тяжкий: nominative, singular, masculine |
| банковать | bankovat | to bank | verb | банковал: past, masculine, imperfective; here “banked” |
| разменять | razmenyat | to exchange | verb | разменяна: past, feminine, perfective; here “exchanged” |
| туз | tuz | ace | noun | туз: nominative, singular, masculine |
«Весна опять пришла» (Vesna opyat prishla) “spring has come again”
Russian past tense verbs agree with their subject in gender and number, not in person. Весна (spring) is feminine, so прийти (to come) gives пришла; a masculine subject would take пришёл, a neuter one пришло, and a plural one пришли. The past of прийти is irregular: it comes from the same stem as шёл and шла, the past of идти (to go).
«из Твери» (iz Tveri) “from Tver”
Из (from, out of) takes the genitive. Тверь is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign, and nouns of this type take -и in the genitive: Тверь becomes Твери. The word before it, этапом, is the instrumental of этап, a prison convoy, and the instrumental here names the way of travelling, like поездом (by train) or самолётом (by plane).
«зла немерено» (zla nemereno) “so much evil”
Немерено is a colloquial word for “countless, beyond measure”. Like много (a lot), мало (little) and сколько (how much), it takes the genitive for whatever is being counted, so зло (evil) becomes зла. Uncountable nouns go into the genitive singular, as in много зла, “a lot of evil”, and countable ones into the genitive plural, as in много лет, “many years”.
«любовь нужна» (lyubov nuzhna) “love is needed”
To say that someone needs something, Russian puts the person in the dative and makes the needed thing the subject of the short adjective нужен (feminine нужна, neuter нужно, plural нужны), which agrees with it. Любовь (love) is feminine, so мне нужна любовь is literally “to me love is needed”. With a masculine noun it would be мне нужен совет, “I need advice”.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.