Tag: music

Song: Måneskin “Beggin'”

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Sometimes it happens that a song written decades ago suddenly re-enters the charts and becomes a massive hit. Sometimes it happens again, and sometimes—for the first time with such overwhelming success (like the case with “Trololo”).

After Eurovision 2021, this fate befell the song Beggin’, originally released in 1967 by the American band The Four Seasons. That’s 54 years ago!

However, I first heard and knew this song from a later 1974 version by the Dutch band Shocking Blue, also known in the USSR for their hit “Shizgara” (actually the song was titled “Venus,” but since most people in the USSR didn’t know English well, they referred to the song by the phrase they thought they heard in the chorus, “Shizgara,” which was actually “she’s got it”).

But back to Beggin’. I really like the version of the song performed by Shocking Blue, and I like the original 1967 version significantly less. So why now, and what does Eurovision have to do with it? The reason is that in spring 2021, the Italian band Måneskin won Eurovision with a completely different song, of course. But the band’s journey started on the Italian version of “X Factor,” where they performed their variation of Beggin’ during one of their appearances. Although this song was never released as a single, after their Eurovision victory, everyone started looking up this “Måneskin.” That’s when their performance from “X Factor” resurfaced, and unexpectedly, this song began climbing the charts again—perhaps even overshadowing their Eurovision-winning track. This is one of those cases where Eurovision really helped the winner. The band’s fame skyrocketed, and it turned out they had quite a few good songs in their repertoire.

Måneskin’s performance of Beggin’ is very emotional and captivating, stylistically much closer to Shocking Blue’s rendition than to the original by The Four Seasons. In short, the song has earned a spot in my playlist alongside the Dutch version.

There are currently two video versions of the song: an official music video made by Måneskin after their cover unexpectedly gained popularity, and a recording of their performance on “X Factor.” I honestly can’t decide which one I like more. I’ll share both.

Let’s start chronologically, with the live performance:

Live performance

And here’s the official music video:

Official music video

Songs of a Second Chance

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In September, I already wrote about remarkable songs from rather mediocre films. But since songs and films are now inextricably linked, today I want to write about a few songs (or melodies) that received a second chance (and sometimes an even stronger one) compared to their original versions. Sometimes it’s just an interesting cinematic arrangement; other times, it’s an entirely new “reading.” I’ll share examples of what I believe are very successful adaptations. And I mean specifically movie (or TV series) adaptations, as there are plenty of amazing covers out there, but we won’t count those today, or we’d simply get lost in them.

So, my criteria were simple:

  1. The melody or song featured in the film existed long before the movie’s release and was already well-known.
  2. It was released as part of the film (soundtrack).
  3. To me personally, it seems very interesting and, in some ways, even better than the original.

I’ll start with a film that is truly rich in such “second winds” — Hipsters by Valery Todorovsky (oh my goodness, it’s already been 13 years since its release, but it feels like it was just yesterday!). Every musical number in the movie is outstanding, so I’ll highlight just three of the absolute best.

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Song: Rammstein “Ohne Dich”

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When I was in school, I absolutely couldn’t stand the German language. It always seemed awful to me, grating on my ears. Like the sound of chalk screeching on a blackboard.

I studied English in school (though all I really got out of it was “My name is Vasya”), while my mom had studied German and knew it quite well. She used to say that German was a very beautiful language, and she had come to appreciate its beauty thanks to an excellent German teacher in her school. But I just couldn’t understand how anyone could find it beautiful!

Later on, I worked for a German company for seven years, spending a lot of time on business trips to Dresden and visiting many other German cities. And, you know, over time, I got used to the language. I learned a few basic phrases, enough to comfortably buy groceries, talk to waiters, and shop for tea in specialty stores (there’s a funny story about that, but I’ll save it for another time). I even began to sense a unique kind of beauty in the German language. It really does sound very different from many other European languages, but the chalkboard-screech feeling eventually disappeared.

Around that time, I also got into the band Rammstein, right when their album Mutter (“Mother”) came out in 2001. I didn’t understand the lyrics at all (apart from a few individual words), but that was never all that important to me. I’ve mentioned before that, for me, a singer’s voice is just another instrument with its own unique sound. I often don’t even pay attention to the lyrics.

Rammstein has always been known for their extravagance and provocativeness, which made their lyrical ballads, performed in Till Lindemann’s powerful, raspy voice, all the more surprising and captivating.

The album Mutter was supposed to include such a ballad, Ohne Dich (“Without You”), but it ended up being released on their next album, Reise, Reise, in 2004. Unlike many of their other songs, I at least understood the title of this one, so I could guess the theme. But I never really looked into the lyrics (I recently read them—nothing particularly special).

Still, it’s one of my favorite songs. And the music video they made for it is absolutely fantastic—no knowledge of the language is needed; the visuals say it all.

So, if anyone hasn’t seen it yet, I’m excited to share this wonderful ballad with you.

P.S. And let me also remind you that Till Lindemann recently sang in Russian.

Song: Underwood “All Those You Loved So Deeply”

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This time, my post about music is going to be very personal. I’ve thought for a long time about whether to write about this song at all and what exactly to say. But sometimes, you just need to write and let go.

Some songs seem to find you at a particular time and evoke certain emotions, and you start hearing in them something that perhaps the authors didn’t even intend (only the authors truly know what they meant). That’s what happened to me with the song “All Those You Loved So Deeply” by the band Underwood. This song came out back in 2008 as part of an album with almost the same name (I even don’t know how to translate or explain this difference in English).

The song struck a chord with me back then, as it reminded me once again of the loss of my younger brother. Its lyrics offer a glimmer of hope, even though I’m an atheist: “All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again…”

It became a permanent fixture in my list of favorite songs in 2014, which was a very painful year for our family. I was traveling to my hometown, Minsk, and the entire time, this song was playing on repeat in my headphones, offering me comfort.

Though it seems the song may not be about the meaning I’ve attached to it.

Men rarely say things like this, but every time this song comes up in my playlist again, I can’t hold back my tears. Even though I often try to hide them.

The song doesn’t have an official music video, so it’s only available in audio form:

Lyrics of the Song

I dreamed of Maestro Rostropovich, he told me that notes are the letters of angels,
Words must be sung; only then can they possibly be heard.

I know one thing: you can’t stop a soaring word, and
All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again.
All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again.
All those you loved so deeply…

I dreamed of Maestro Rostropovich, he told me he’d seen (wow!) my grandmother
In the heavens, on the edge of a sunlit stage, and I sing to myself:
Awakened: “It’s possible!”
Choir of angels: “Impossible, impossible…”
Awakened again: “It’s possible!!”
Choir of angels again: “Impossible, impossible…”

I know one thing: you can’t stop a soaring word, and
All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again.
All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again.
All those you loved so deeply, you will meet again.

Song: Polonaise by Ogiński / “Farewell to the Homeland”

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It’s strange, but there aren’t that many songs widely associated with Belarus and the Belarusian people. Most likely, the first songs that come to mind are from the Soviet era, performed by “Pesnyary” with Mulyavin or “Syabry.” I imagine “Belovezhskaya Pushcha” and “Alesya” would be among the first to be mentioned.

What’s rather disheartening is that even Belarusians themselves would likely struggle to recall much. And the piece I want to highlight now isn’t even recognized by many as a song—let alone a Belarusian one. It’s not so simple.

This piece is most commonly known simply as “Ogiński’s Polonaise.” Far fewer people know its second title, “Farewell to the Homeland.”

Even its connection to Belarus is not entirely straightforward. Composer Michał Ogiński is now often considered Polish. This particular polonaise (originally titled simply “Polonaise No. 13,” complete with that “lucky” number) was composed in 1794. According to legend, he wrote it as he was leaving the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after the Russian Empire crushed the Kościuszko Uprising (and there’s debate about whether Kościuszko himself was Polish or Belarusian).

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Song: NIZKIZ “Rules” (Pravily)

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It’s strange—I was sure I’d written about this song, but it turns out that amidst a series of events, I simply forgot.

I was familiar with the Belarusian band NIZKIZ by name, but I hadn’t really listened to them. A year ago, after the events in Belarus, some of their songs started to resonate with me and found their way into my playlist. The song “Правілы” (“Rules”) is clearly dedicated to what happened in the summer of 2020. The official music video makes this absolutely clear (The music video for this song disappeared from YouTube after almost all the band members were imprisoned by “the most fair court in the world.”) And in this combination of sound and visuals, the song tears at your soul even more deeply.

I’m proud of Belarusians!

Masterpiece Songs from Flop Films

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Recently, I was playing some of my favorite songs for the kids in the car. At some point, I caught myself thinking that many of these songs are far more famous than the movies they appeared in. Usually, it’s the other way around: the soundtrack (music and songs) fades into the background as we get absorbed by the story. Sometimes, both the film and the songs are great, and we end up happily humming the tunes afterward—or they even become hits.

The latter category includes “Prekrasnoye Daleko” (“The Beautiful Far Away”) from the excellent film “Guest from the Future“ (which deviates significantly from Kir Bulychev’s original story, but as kids, we were glued to the screen, and Natasha Guseva—the lead actress—became every boy’s favorite girl in the USSR for years). Or “Krylatye Kacheli” (“The Swinging Swings”) from “The Adventures of the Electronic“. There are plenty of other examples too.

But let’s think about cases where we remember the songs, but the movies didn’t leave much of an impression. Of course, I can’t name them all, so I invite you to add your examples in the comments. I’ll share a few from my own playlist, and I’ll add any suggestions from the comments to the post.

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Slot: Slot feat. Neuromonach Feofan “Ancient Russian Soul”

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The Russian-speaking audience is likely familiar with the band Neuromonakh Feofan (literally meaning “Neuromonk Theophanes”), but I doubt it is well-known outside those circles. A few years ago, it became a phenomenon—a mysterious performer embodying the image of an old Russian schemamonk, singing in a style that resembles traditional ancient Russian folk music (or at least what we recognize as such, inspired by Russian fairy-tale movies) but with a modern twist.

The song I want to share today is a collaboration between two bands: Neuromonakh Feofan and Slot. Its title in English is “Ancient Russian Soul”. The track combines Neuromonakh’s traditional style with elements of techno dance music. I believe it could be intriguing for non-Russian listeners to hear at least once. For me, it was a very impressive discovery. Unfortunately, there is no official video for this song. Below, I’ve included a concert video and the Spotify version of the song. I hope you enjoy it!

Song: Grechka “Love Me, Love”

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Once, Alexander Pushnoy brilliantly covered the song “I’m Losing My Roots” by the band Korni in the style of Splean and Boris Grebenshchikov (BG). At the end, he concluded with the phrase, “The song is nothing; the performance is everything.”

This happens with other songs as well. Many years ago, the Otpetye Moshenniki released a pop song called “Love Me” that played everywhere but remained just a pop song. Until it was performed by the relatively unknown singer Grechka. And here, as they say, “feel the difference.” The song immediately took on a completely new life. I first heard it in the series “Peace! Friendship! Chewing Gum!“ (which, by the way, is a pretty decent show about teenagers in the ’90s). Take a listen yourself:

An additional fact about this song: its author is Alexander Kozlov, the founder, keyboardist, and composer of many songs for the band “Agata Kristi.”

Song: dudeontheguitar & Hey Monro “Boiy Bulgan”

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Thanks to the “Longplay” channel, I came across the song “Boiy Bulgan” by two Kazakh performers — dudeontheguitar and Hey Monro. Since my knowledge of the Kazakh language is not very good, I have absolutely no idea what this song is about. Nor had I heard anything about the performers before. But the melody and voices completely enchanted me. The song has found a lasting place in my playlist: