Polyushko-polye
Polyushko-polye (Russian: По́люшко-по́ле; IPA: [ˈpolʲʊʂkə ˈpolʲɪ]) is a Soviet Russian-language song. Polye means "field" in Russian, "polyushko" is a diminutive/hypocoristic form for "polye". It is also known as Meadowlands, Song of The Plains or Oh Fields, My Fields in English.
Soviet arrangements
The music was composed by Lev Knipper, with lyrics by Viktor Gusev in 1933. The song was part of the symphony with chorus (lyrics by Gusev) "A Poem about a Komsomol Soldier" (Поэма о бойце-комсомольце) composed in 1934. The original lyrics are sung from the perspective of a Red Army recruit, who proudly leaves his home to keep watch against his homeland's enemies.
The song was covered many times by many artists in the Soviet Union, including a well-known rock version recorded by The Singing Guitars (Поющие гитáры), released c. 1967. The song has been regularly performed and recorded by the Alexandrov Ensemble, and it is listed in the Alexandrov Ensemble discography, best known as the Red Army Choir.
Full version at London 1945 Youth Congress
At the opening of the London 1945 Youth Congress, the full version of Polyushko-polye was performed by a choir of 6,000 members. The music for this performance was composed by musician L. A. Stokovsky, based on the original music of L. Knipper.[1]
Other arrangements
Outside Russia, several arrangements of the tune are known under the title The Cossack Patrol, particularly a version by Ivan Rebroff,[2] and some under other titles including Meadowland, Cavalry of the Steppes and Gone with the Wind.
In France, a French version called Plaine, ma plaine was made famous during the 1960' by the male choir Les Compagnons de la chanson, from lyrics written by the French actor Francis Blanche.
There is also a famous Arabic version called "كانوا الخيالة" written by Rahbani_brothers in 1974, performed by Fairuz in a musical comedy called "Loulou".
Christian Bruhn adapted the song in his 1980 soundtrack for the anime series Captain Future. The record gave the title of the track as Space-Wind.
A wordless version is sung by a boys choir on the Disney album "It's a Small World".
Theodore Bikel sung this song as the opening number from "Bikel on Tour" (1963).
The Hassles used Polyushko Polye theme in the song "It's Not Enough" (Album "The Hussles", 1967; "It's Not Enough" was included into 1992 Re-issued Bonus Tracks).
Marc Almond adapted the song with new original lyrics as So Long the Path (So Wide the Field) on his 2003 album of Russian songs Heart on Snow.
The Waterboys applied Polyushko Polye as the basis for the song "Red Army Blues"(Album "A Pagan Place", 1984).
French band Soviet Suprem also applied Polyushko Polye as the basis for the song "Red Army" (Album "L'internationale", 2014).
Jefferson Airplane recorded a one-minute instrumental version of the song for their 1969 album Volunteers.
It is the basis of a song by Kurdish, pro-independence singer Bengi Agıri, of the name "Roj avayê dıl (Rojava is my Heart)".
The song is also the basis of NFL Films score composer Sam Spence's work "The Path to the Title".
Cultural influence
Michael Palin notably performed the song with the choir of the Russian Pacific Fleet in the television series Full Circle with Michael Palin.[3]
An 8-bit instrumental version of the song is played on early stages of the game Tetris (the 1980s Spectrum-Holobyte edition).
Notes
External links
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- Performed by the Soviet Army Chorus and Band on YouTube
- A Chinese rendition with translated lyrics performed by the Male Choir of the People's Armed Police on YouTube