Vladimir Vysotsky was a top movie star and popular singer in the Soviet Union, but political songs like this one got his concerts and performances regularly banned by the censors.
Heat me a banya, housekeeper,
Until I'm scorched, 'til I burn out,
On the bench's edge I'll teeter,
And beat away my doubt.
I'll unwind and shed all propriety,
Pour cold water on my dream,
Skin inked with cult of personality,
My tattoos flush in the steam.
Heat the banya, heat it white,
Unused to the wide world, head hung,
Blistered by scalding steam, I might
Be seared ‘til I loosen my tongue.
Our idols, our trees, all are fallen,
Tracks of tears, all the tracks we tread,
On my left chest, the profile of Stalin,
On my right, my Marinka’s sweet head.
Ekh! in payment for selfless devotion
I had paradise, rest and relief,
In exchange for a life that is hopeless,
I surrendered my stupid belief.
Heat the banya, heat it white,
Unused to the wide world, head hung,
Blistered by scalding steam, I might
Be seared ‘til I loosen my tongue.
I recall that Siberian morning,
Only “help!” to my brother I moaned,
Two fine guards brought me without warning,
To a Siberia I’d never known.
Into quarries and marshes we’re fallen,
From raw meat and tears bellies ache,
On our left chest, the profile of Stalin,
The better to hear our hearts break.
Don’t heat the banya, not white,
Unused to the wide world, head hung,
Blistered by scalding steam, I might
Be seared ‘til I loosen my tongue.
Okh, I shiver with dwelling on details,
Steam makes the dark thoughts retreat,
From the chill of the past’s cloudy veils,
I plunge to a cloud of pure heat.
These thoughts have so branded my brain,
I need hardly have branded my skin,
With birch branches I beat in vain,
At the marks of the Dark Age’s sins.
Heat, don’t heat…
Heat the banya, heat it white,
Get me used to the wide world, head hung,
Blistered by scalding steam, I might
Be seared ‘til I loosen my tongue.
Heat, don’t heat, heat, don’t heat, heat…
