Context
I’ve been sharing some of these off-and-on with people, I thought I’d spend half an hour and sit down and make the list.
“Don’t tell my mom I’m in Chechnya”
The most hummable of all these, IMO 🙂 because of its guitar base
Also, I have no idea who the original author is
At its core, a basic soldier’s song (which can also function as an anti-war song)
Some Trivia:
- It’s the most recent of all of these, dating to the 1990s
- I discovered this song because it’s consistently the background theme for Youtube shorts by Dima, who runs a channel I follow for Russo-Ukraine conflict updates!
Polyushka Polye (“O fields, my fields”)
Composed in 1933
Shows up in a wide variety of places, with a recognizable choral verse
Katyusha
Dating to 1938, possibly the most well-known of these
Some Trivia:
Lots of covers, including one by Nat King Cole
Tonkaya Ryabina (“The thin Rowan”)
A folk song, dating back to 1864 (the rowan tree stands on one side of a wide river, swaying and longing to be with the oak tree on the opposite bank).
Some Trivia:
- I came across this song when it was mentioned in The Dark Forest (by Liu Cixin) !
- I picked a recent recording of this, but there are audio recordings from before the Russian Revolution
Tyomnaya noch (“Dark is the night”)
Originally performed in 1943, and with a tempo that is very different from the “regular” war songs of that era.
Some Trivia:
Leonid Utyosov, without knowledge and without permission of authors and film unit, recorded the song, thus becoming the first to do so
Hunt for Red October (opening track)
This is more of an Honorable mention (!), since it’s a soundtrack
By Basil Poledouris (IMO as good as Hans Zimmer from an earlier era)
Some Trivia:
This might be the first of all of these that I heard !
Enjoy listening!! …
Originally published at http://abacusnoir.com on June 9, 2024.
