by Molchat Doma
Contains explicit language.
“Sudno” is a song by Molchat Doma, a post-punk band formed in Minsk, Belarus, in 2017. It appeared on their second album, Etazhi (2018), under the full title “Sudno (Boris Ryzhy)”, because its words are a poem by the Russian poet Boris Ryzhy. In the first half of 2020 it spread on TikTok and reached number two on Spotify's global Viral 50 chart. The title word has two meanings, a ship or vessel and a bedpan, so the song is sometimes listed in English as “Vessel”; in the poem it is the bedpan. In our translation the chorus lists what surrounds a sickbed: an enameled bedpan, a window, a nightstand, a bed. Living is hard and uncomfortable, but dying is comfortable. Life comes out, disheveled, as if from a fog, and the singer tries to get up, wanting to look into her eyes and burst into tears.
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.
Enameled bedpan
Window, nightstand, bed
To live is hard and uncomfortable,
But it's comfortable to die
(last 4 lines x2)
And it quietly drips from the tap,
And life is disheveled, like a whore
It comes out, as if from a fog and sees: a nightstand, a bed
And I'm trying to get up
I want to look into her eyes
To look into her eyes and sob and burst into tears
(repeat the 4 lines from “Enameled bedpan” x2)
| Word | Say it | Meaning | Type | In the song |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| эмалированный | emalirovanny | enameled | adjective | эмалированное: nominative, singular, neuter |
| судно | sudno | bedpan | noun | судно: nominative, singular, neuter |
| окошко | okoshko | window | noun | окошко: nominative, singular, neuter |
| тумбочка | tumbochka | nightstand | noun | тумбочка: nominative, singular, feminine |
| кровать | krovat | bed | noun | кровать: nominative, singular, feminine |
| жить | zhit | to live | verb | жить: infinitive, imperfective |
| тяжело | tyazhelo | hard | adverb | тяжело |
| неуютно | neuyutno | uncomfortable | adverb | неуютно |
| умирать | umirat | to die | verb | умирать: infinitive, imperfective |
| приподняться | pripodnyatsya | to rise | verb | приподняться: reflexive; here “to raise” |
| глаз | glaz | eye | noun | глаза: accusative, plural, masculine; here “eyes” |
| разрыдаться | razrydatsya | to sob | verb | разрыдаться: reflexive |
«Жить тяжело» (Zhit tyazhelo) “to live is hard”
Russian says “it is hard to do something” with no subject and no “is”: an infinitive plus a word in -о such as тяжело (hard), уютно (cozy) or трудно (difficult). These words look like adverbs but work as the predicate, and не- gives the opposite, неуютно (uncomfortable). For the past, add было: жить было тяжело, “living was hard”. To say who feels it, use the dative: мне тяжело.
«Окошко» (Okoshko) “window”
Окошко is a diminutive of окно (window), made with the suffix -ошк-. Diminutives make something small, dear or homely, and in this poem that softness sits next to bleak sickroom objects. Тумбочка (nightstand) is built the same way from тумба (pedestal), but it has become the normal word for the piece of furniture. A diminutive keeps the gender of its base word: окошко is neuter like окно.
«жизнь растрёпана» (zhizn rastryopana) “life is disheveled”
Растрёпана is the short form of растрёпанный, the past passive participle of растрепать (to tousle, to mess up). Short forms stand after the subject as the predicate, again without “is”, and agree in gender and number: жизнь is feminine, so the ending is -а. With a masculine noun it would be растрёпан, with a plural растрёпаны. Full forms go before the noun: растрёпанные волосы, “tousled hair”.
«пытаюсь приподняться» (pytayus pripodnyatsya) “I'm trying to get up”
Пытаться (to try) is followed by an infinitive, here the perfective приподняться, because the goal is one completed action. The prefix при- can mean “slightly” or “partly”: подняться is to get up, приподняться is to raise yourself a little, for example on one elbow. The ending -ся turns поднять (to lift something) into “to lift oneself”, and пытаться is reflexive too: ты пытаешься, мы пытаемся.
Translation, word notes and commentary by Koinei. Rights holders: see Copyright and takedown requests.