I'm new here but have been lurking for a little bit. I really enjoyed reading this post and wanted to add some references I recently read. In the LES liner notes, it is mentioned that parts of The Glorious Land and In the Dark Places were inspired by excerpts from a book called Russian Folk Lyrics. I was curious so I checked the book out of the library. I found quite a bit!
I haven't finished reading it all yet, but this is what I have found so far (most are excerpts from longer lyrics):
No Title- (Grow Grow Grow)
Beneath the oak grove is flax, flax Beneath the green grove is flax, flax "Already I have sown, sown the flax, And I kept repeating, With my boots I beat it down, On all sides I turned it: Turn out well, turn out well, my flax Turn out well, my white flax, Catch someone's fancy, my darling!" "Teach me, mama, How to weed the flax." "Well this is how, daughter, This is how, daughter of mine, This is how, little dove, This is how, little dove."
St. George's Songs (In the Dark Places)
We got up very early, Washed our white faces, Walked around the fields Put up crosses, Invoked Egor': Brave Egor', Macarius the saint! Protect our flocks, Every animal- In the field and beyond the field In the forest and beyond the forest For you wolf, bear, Old beast, Fox and hare- A stump and a log At the edge of the forest!
You mean old lady, Stump and log, At the edge of the forest! Go to Tatarus (Hell) Return again, Pass through the damned mountains Don't find your way back!
We walked around the field Invoking Egor', Praising Macarius: You, our brave Egory, Macarius the saint! Save our flocks In the field and beyond the field In the forest and beyond the forest, Under the bright moon Under the beautiful sun, From the nasty wolf, From the mean bear, From the sly beast!
No Title (Its You)
I will tell mama- My head aches, I feel bad, I feel like taking a walk! I'll sneak off- I'll walk a bit, I'll steal away- I'll go kissing. "Oh, you dear young man! Teach me, sweetheart, How to walk home." "Walk, clever girl, Walk, smart girl"
I thought And thought some more: To whom could I pray?
No Title (The Glorious Land)
How is our glorious land being ploughed? Not by wooden ploughs is our glorious land being ploughed, Not by iron ploughs- Our land is being ploughed by horses' hooves; And the glorious land is being sown with Cossack heads.
No Title (The Mountain)
Along the mountains, Along the high mountains A young gray eagle Was flying high Flying high, Shrieking pitifully. In the formation a soldier Was sighing heavily: "For myself I am not sorry, not sorry For myself I am only sorry For the green garden: In the green garden Are three trees: The first tree Is a cypress, The second tree Is a sweet apple tree The third tree Is a green pear tree. The cypress tree Is my dear daddy: The sweet apple Is my dear mamma, The green pear Is my young wife
No Title (Bitter Branches)
It is not a little white birch bending toward the earth, It is not silken grass spreading out in the field- It is bitter wormwood spreading out, spreading out. Nothing in the field is more bitter than you, wormwood!
In the white world the soldiers go on campaigns, Go on campaigns, stand in formation, Stand in formation and hold their rifles. Stand with frisky feet in the damp earth, Hold onto their fiery rifles with their white hands, With their bright eyes they look beyond the Danube.
No Title (Uh Huh Her)
I said to my dear sweetheart, Tearfully, complaining, I begged my dear sweetheart: "Don't marry, my dear-tender sweetheart, don't marry, As long as I live, now a pretty maid, I will not marry."
"Well, enough, my soul, of grieving and crying! No matter how much you have cried, it is time to stop: It is not for you to fill the blue sea with tears, For you to sow the bare field with pining and anguish For you to comfort your dear sweetheart with words."
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