Казачья песня - Черный Ворон
текст песни

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From the book of General Pyotr Krasnov “Pictures of the Bygone Quiet Don” (1909):

"Don people in the Caucasus 1801-1864. During the difficult struggle with the Caucasian highlanders, the Don Cossacks accomplished many feats. Very often they had to defend themselves alone from a numerous and evil enemy. The feats performed by the Don Cossacks during this sixty-year war are so numerous, that there is no way to list them all. Many Cossacks died in the mountains and valleys of the Caucasus and there is neither a cross nor a monument over their unknown graves. The Don people who died alone, without witnesses, died in the mountains, surrounded by crows and predatory eagles. It was there that the this sad Cossack song."

“Black Raven” is a popular Russian folk song that tells about the difficult fate of a warrior and his struggle with death, which takes the form of a bird - a black raven.

The song “Black Raven” gained particular popularity after it was performed in the 1934 film “Chapaev”, arranged by Gavriil Nikolaevich Popov. The melody of the song was the leitmotif of the film and was used in the overture and final march. The allusion to the historical picture was the repeated performance of the song in the modern feature film “Peculiarities of the National Hunt.” It is interesting that the song “Lyubo, brothers, lyubo,” similar in plot, unlike “Black Crow,” was for a long time under an unspoken ban, since in the movie “Alexander Parkhomenko” it was performed by the “bandit” Father Makhno, while “Black Raven” is shown in cinematic art as the favorite song of the “red commander” Chapaev.

Black Raven.

Black raven, black raven, what are you doing?
above me?
You won't get any booty
Black Raven, I'm not yours!

Why are you spreading your claws?
Over my head?
Or do you want prey for yourself?
Black Raven, I'm not yours!
Or do you want prey for yourself?
Black Raven, I'm not yours!

I'll tie a mortal wound
With the handkerchief given to me,
And then I'll be with you
Talk about one thing.

Fly to my side
Tell my mother
Tell her, my dear,
What kind of homeland have I fallen to?

Take the bloody handkerchief
To my dear love.
Tell her - she's free
I married someone else.
Tell her - she's free
I married someone else.

He took a quiet, modest bride
In an open field under a bush,
The sharp saber was a matchmaker,—
The damask bayonet was a friend.

Kalena was crowned with an arrow
Among the fatal battle.
I see my death is coming, -
Black Raven, I'm not yours!
I see my death is coming, -
Black Raven, I'm all yours...

In general, birds certainly hover in Russian songs (you can organize a competition to see who can remember the most), just ravens off the top of my head: The black raven is a brave warrior; Black raven friend, you are my stray; More beautiful, more beautiful than crows, etc.

In folklore, an independent author’s version of the song based on the words of Verevkin, a non-commissioned officer of the Nevsky Infantry Regiment, “Under the Green Willow,” published, among his other songs, in 1837, is known. (Verevkin himself composed his songs to popular melodies, so, apparently, the melody came from some earlier version.)

Under the green willow

Under the green willow
The Russian lay wounded
To the chest, pierced with a bayonet,
He clutched his copper cross.

Blood flowed from a fresh wound
On trampled sand;
A black raven hovered above him,
Smelling a tasty morsel.

“Don’t hang yourself, black raven,
Over my head!
You won't get any booty
I'm a soldier still alive!

You fly to your native country,
Give your mother a bow.
Pass the bloody handkerchief
My wife is young.

You say: she is free,
I married someone else.
I found myself a bride
In an open field, under a bush;

My matchmaker is a saber,
And crowned with a faceted bayonet;
He took a quiet, modest bride
And a little extra.