"Korobeiniki" (Russian: Коробейники, English translation: Peddlers), also known as the Tetris song is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells of an incident between a peddler and a girl "haggling" over a price, with the details only being said in metaphor. In western culture, the song is primarily known for being used as the "Type A" music in the 1989 Game Boy version of the puzzle game Tetris.
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The song "Korobeiniki" is based on a poem with the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, written and printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861.[1] Due to its increasing tempo and the dance style associated with it, it quickly became a popular Russian folk song.[2]
Korobeiniki were peddlers with trays, selling fabric, haberdashery, books and other small things in pre-revolutionary Russia.[3] Nekrasov's poem is a sad story about the love between a peasant girl, Katya, and a young peddler. They meet each other in a rye field at night where he has promised her a good deal on the goods he carries, before they are sold in the market during the day. Only the night knows what happens between them in the rye field, but she is not so simple and does not take any of the goods which he offers her. What is the point, she figures, to have all that without him – her first and only love? She takes only a small turquoise ring, as a memory, and he promises to marry her when he comes back from his commerce trip. He continues his journey and she waits for him with caution. His business goes very well and he makes a lot of money, but on the way back he is killed and robbed by a forest ranger whom he asks for directions. So he never comes back to marry Katya. The song is only the very beginning of the original poem; it only recounts Katya's first meeting with the young peddler when their relation is getting off to a happy start.
| Russian lyrics | Transliteration | English translation |
|---|---|---|
| Ой полным полна моя коробушка Есть и ситец, и парча. Выйду, выйду в рожь высокую, Цены сам платил немалые, Вот уж пала ночь туманная, Катя бережно торгуется, Знает только ночь глубокая, Ой, легка, легка коробушка, Дал ей ситцу штуку целую, Все поклала ненаглядная То-то, дуры вы, молодочки! Так постой же! Нерушимое Опорожнится коробушка, Вплоть до вечера дождливого Старый Тихоныч ругается: |
Oy polnym polna mоya korobushka Yest' i sitets i parcha. Vyydu, vyydu v rozh' vysokuyu, Tseny sam platil nemalyye, Vot uzh pala noch' tumannaya, Katya berezhno torguyetsya Znayet tol'ko noch' glubokaya, Oy legka legka korobushka Dal ey sittsu shtuku tseluyu, Vse poklala nenaglyadnaya To-to, dury vy, molodochki! Tak postoy zhe! Nerushimo Oporozhnitsya korobushka, Vplotʹ do vechera dozhdlivogo Staryy Tihonych rugaetsya: |
Oh, my crate is so full, I've got chintz and brocade. I will, I will go out into the tall rye, I paid no small price myself, The foggy night has already come, Katya is haggling with care, Only the deep night knows, Oh, my crate is so light, |
as featured in Tetris in MIDI format. |
"Korobeiniki" was re-arranged in 1989 by Hirokazu Tanaka[5] and used as the "Type A" music in the Game Boy version of Tetris. It has since become closely associated with the game in Western popular culture. In 2008, UGO listed the song as the 3rd best videogame music of all time.[6] Though Tetris Holding LLC holds a sound trademark on the song for use in video games,[7] the song has appeared in Dance Maniax 2nd Mix under the title "Happy-hopper".
Others include: