Polyushko Pole

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"Polyushko Pole" (Russian spelling: Полюшко Поле) is a Russian song. It is claimed that the song was originally written during the Russian Civil War and was sung by the Red Army.

For the Soviet variant of the song, the music was by Lev Knipper, with lyrics by Viktor Gusev. Knipper's song was part of the symphony with chorus (lyrics by Gusev) "A Poem about a Komsomol Soldier" (Поэма о бойце-комсомольце) composed in 1934. It was covered many times by many artists in the Soviet Union, including a well-known rock version made from the "Singing Guitars" (Russian: Поющие гитáры), released c. 1967

Several Western arrangements of the tune are known under the title "The Cossack Patrol", particularly a version by Ivan Rebroff, and some under other titles including "Meadowland", "Cavalry of the Steppes" and "Gone with the Wind". "Tanz Brüderchen" by Hyperactive, an authorised rave remix of Rebroff's performance, is well-known in some online communities for its inclusion in the Flash cartoon A Frightened Boy at rathergood.com.

The tune is still popular, including ringtones and a dance track by the British electro duo, SilverSpirit. It was used to very dramatic effect in the 1967 film The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming. Michael Palin notably performed the song with the choir of the Russian Pacific Fleet in the television series Full Circle with Michael Palin [1]. The song can be heard in the background of the movie Cast Away, in an episode in Airwolf(Proof Through The Night) and is the opening title of Aki Kaurismäki's film Leningrad Cowboys Go America. The song is also covered instrumentally on Hammond organ by Steven Stills on Jefferson Airplane's 1969 album Volunteers as an interlude between A Song For All Seasons and the title track.

David Markish has a novel Polyushko-Polye about Nestor Makhno, and Boris Mozhayev, a Soviet writer of "rustic style" wrote his Polyushko-Polye about kolkhoz life. There also was a 1956 movie with this name.

The song is also the basis for a Glenn Miller and Jerry Gray song called "Russian Patrol" or "The Red Cavalry March".

The tune was adapted by a Chabad Lubavitch Chasid Rabbi Avraham Drizin AKA Avrohom Mayor as a Chassidic anthem of sorts. The use of a Red army tune together with Yiddish words wishing health to the Rebbe who along with all Chassidim were the subject of persecution at the hands of the communist regime is deliberately ironic.

Ritchie Blackmore's "Gone with the Wind" (1999) is presumably the most recent adaptation of "Polyushko-Pole".

[edit] Sample lyrics

[edit] Russian lyrics in Cyrillic alphabet

Полюшко-поле, полюшко, широко поле,
Eдут по полю герои,
Эх, да красной армии герои.

Девушки плачут,
Девушкам сегодня грустно,
Милый надолго уехал,
Эх, да милый в армию уехал.

[edit] Russian lyrics in Latin alphabet

Polyushko-pole, polyushko, shiroko pole,
edut po polyu geroi,
eh, da krasnoi armii geroi.

Devushki plachut,
devushkam sevodnya grustno,
milyi nadolgo uehal,
eh, da milyi v armiyu uehal.

[edit] English translation

Field, my field, my wide field,
The heroes ride over the field,
hey, the heroes of the Red Army.

The girls are crying,
the girls are sorrowful today,
their sweethearts went away for a long time,
hey, their sweethearts went away to the army.