Forgive me, dear,
For I’m a human being:
Two lungs, two eyes
And only one heart.
I took this snapshot during a long, memorable walk with Dima Vorobyev, Marina Maraeva and her dog through a gloriously snowy Petersburg five years ago today.
When I posted it on Facebook, Slava Popov pointed out to me that the graffito was a quotation from the 2013 song “Ships,” by the Petersburg “math rock” band Samoe Bolshoe Prostoe Chislo (“The Largest Prime Number,” usually identified by the acronym SBPCh).
[intro]
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Paah-poo-baah-poo-baah-boo-baah
[chorus]
Sadness is the place where the ships come
Windstorm is what we put in our tea
Dried apricots lift cars off the ground
When you cry, I go to the pier
Sadness is the place where the ships come
Hurricane is what we put in our tea
Dried apricots lift cars off the ground
When you cry, I go to the pier
[hook]
Where do the ships come from?
Where do the ships come from?
Where do the ships come from?
[verse]
Today is a really special day
Stupid, ridiculous and funny
I throw a t-shirt into a faded shadow
It’s so hot I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
Whether to stand or lie on the yellow grass
Prickly, withered and spiteful
You’re all dummies in my head
Who have swapped a night’s lodging for an overnight stay
To go to the sea through a steppe and a half
And another three along the way
Guys in underpants, kids in underpants,
Everything on the way in underpants
I look at a cow, at a dragonfly
It’s a pity that I’m a human being
At birds, at dogs, at a gray nanny goat
That life has slowed down
I’m sorry I brought you to this dump
I’m sorry, goat, for the dump
It could have been a kangaroo in your place
A koala chewing bark
But I remembered something from my childhood, from books
About the fleet and about a fraternal people
We’ll cut straight through the fence here
I remember there is a turn
Sorry for the scales running out loud
For joy that immediately turns to grief
But out loud, in front of the goat, because there are more than two of us
I swear the sea is there beyond the garden
In the meantime, there is the garden, where
Melons, plums and peppers live out their days
I’m sorry, dear, for I’m a human being
Two lungs, two eyes and only one heart
[hook]
Where do the ships come from?
Where do the ships come from?
Where do the ships come from?
Ааааh-аааh-аааh
[refrain]
Sadness is the place where the ships come
Hurricane is what we put in our tea
Dried apricots lift cars off the ground
When you cry, I go to the pier
Sadness is the place where the ships come
Hurricane is what we put in our tea
Dried apricots lift cars off the ground
When you cry, I go to the pier
[bridge]
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Parah-poo-pah-boo-pah-boo paah-boo-bah-poo-bah
Paah-poo-baah-poo-baah-boo-baah
Source: Genius.com. The refrain plays on the fact that the words pechal’ (sadness) and prichal (pier), and uragan (windstorm) and kuraga (dried apricots) are near rhymes. “Ships” was released on SPBCh’s 2013 LP Forest Oracle. Translated by the Russian Reader
Comrade Sharapov almost as immediately pointed out the striking similarity between SBPCh’s graffitoed sentiment and “Two Lips, Two Lungs and One Tongue,” a song by the venerable Vancouver punk band Nomeansno, released on their fourth album, Wrong (1989).
The Russian Reader 