To a beautiful song"The Girl from Nagasaki", in the title and text of which the well-known tragic story Japanese city in next year will be one hundred years old. Once upon a time, a long time ago, in the late forties, back in student years, I heard it, but forgot, and recently, as it happened, one day, I listened to the song performed by Vladimir Vysotsky, Gemma Khalid and Alexander Malinin.
It seems to me that I know the works of Vysotsky and Malinin quite well, and I heard the name Gemma Khalid for the first time, although I also love chanson and have been listening to it for many years.
Chanson lovers and music critics say correctly that the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” is amazing and full of mysteries. There were too many myths and legends around this song.
Previously, many considered the song “criminal” and “port”, although musicologists did not agree with this. The song has long and firmly become one of the hits " marine theme“, but she still isn’t.
For a long time They argued about who owns the words and who owns the music of the song. The author of the song was considered to be famous Alexander Vertinsky, and many other singers and composers, and then even Vladimir Vysotsky was among the authors.
It was believed that the lyrics of the song were written in the late 20s of the last century. But meticulous musicologists found information in the archives that the song appeared much earlier and was sounded back in 1918!
It is also known that the lyrics of the song were changed and supplemented several times. As a rule, this was done by the performers. And it was sung by Vadim Kozin, Arkady Severny, bards of the 60s, Kira Smirnova, Vladimir Vysotsky, Alexander Malinin and many other artists. On CD “Anthology of one song. Girl from Nagasaki" there were more than two dozen performers.
Now passions have subsided and experts in “sea romance” have come to the conclusion that the words of the song belong to the poetess Vera Inber (1890-1972), a famous Soviet writer.
The question of the composer who wrote the music for the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” has remained open to this day. For a long time it was believed that the music was written by the composer Paul Marcel Rusakov (1908 - 1973), also known as Pavel Aleksandrovich Rusakov. But here is information from the Internet: “... the authorship of Paul Marcel as a composer can be removed. Theater magazine No. 7 dated December 22, 1918 writes about the opening of the Red Zucchini Actors' basement in Kharkov on November 3, 1918: “A guitar is ringing from somewhere. Drunken, gentle guitar by de Lazari. “My charabanc, charabanc.” This is Raisova. Raisa Mikhailovna herself. “He is a cabin boy, his homeland is Marseille.” "The Girl from Nagasaki"...
It turns out that in 1918 the song was already popular, and Paul Marcel was only ten years old at that time.
I researched the history of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki”, dug deeper on the first Internet sites, mainly. Cautious samizdat revelations in the past. They didn’t write me a review of the publication, I’ll answer on your page, maybe someone is interested.
The author of the music is also the author of the words - Vera Inber. She played music no more than average, at an amateur level. I was embarrassed to advertise.
All other authors “attached” to the popularity of the text, as is usually the case with bards.-
These are the kind of “stove benches” you get... Vera Inber is the author of poetry and music!
Where is the truth? No one knows...
The poem “The Girl from Nagasaki” became popular even in the pre-war years folk song.
The lyrics of the song were repeatedly corrected and supplemented by both known and unknown “co-authors”.
The original lyrics of the song only had four verses. Vera Inber wrote romantic, “girlish” poems since 1910. The beginning of the song then sounded like this: “He’s a cabin boy...”. In subsequent texts, through the efforts of numerous editors, the cabin boy turned into a captain: “He is the captain...”.
The original lyrics of the song were published in the book “Frainable Words” (Odessa, 1922). There are only four verses. If the first three were repeated in many versions of the song subsequently, then the first line of the last verse was never heard in such an edition.
Having arrived, he hurries to her, barely breathing,
And he finds out that the gentleman is in a tailcoat,
Tonight, after smoking hashish,
The song “The Girl from Nagasaki” has been included in the repertoire of dozens of performers over many decades.
Music critics They believe that many of them never understood the “soul” of this song. They tried to remake it for themselves, and not rise to the romance of it piece of music. They lost the port romance, the dreamy sadness, and the unforgettable charm of the “yard” song.
Gemma Khalid and Vladimir Vysotsky treated the original with care. Although, the lyrics of the song performed by Vladimir Vysotsky are somewhat different from the lyrics sung by Gemma Khalid and Alexander Malinin. The text is well known, but I will quote it in full. It will be easier for the reader to understand the continuation of this extraordinary story.
He is a captain, and his homeland is Marseille.
He loves arguments, noise and fights,
He smokes a pipe, drinks strong ale
She has traces of leprosy on her hands,
She's got tattooed marks
And in the evenings jig in taverns
A girl from Nagasaki dances.
The captain goes on a long journey
And he loves a girl from Nagasaki.
Corals, scarlet as blood,
And a khaki silk jacket,
And ardent and passionate love
He's bringing a girl from Nagasaki.
The captain returned from afar,
And he learned that the gentleman in tails
Once I smoked hashish,
Stabbed a girl from Nagasaki to death.
She has such small breasts
And lips, lips as red as poppies.
The captain goes on a long journey,
And he loves a girl from Nagasaki.
And in a wild storm, when the thunder roars,
And in quiet hours on the forecastle,
He remembers those brown eyes
And raves about a girl from Nagasaki.
* * *
In March 2012, a continuation of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” appeared, only now with a happy ending. The author of the text is a Ukrainian poet from the city of Zaporozhye Valerian Proskuryakov (), and performed the song “Living Memory of Love from Nagasaki” famous singer Sabina. The music remains the same...
* * *
Lyrics of the continuation of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki”
The years flew by, the captain became gray,
Arrived with the team again in Nagasaki.
And, finding myself in an old tavern,
He saw his love and the same signs.
She has such small breasts
And lips, lips as red as poppies.
He didn't believe his own eyes,
But he lost consciousness in the twilight.
And so, when the captain woke up,
He noticed a gentleman in a tailcoat,
Brown eyes were having fun with him -
His favorite from Nagasaki!
She's got tattoo marks on her arms
And the lips, the lips are scarlet, like poppies.
And with amazement the captain learned
In it is the daughter of that girl from Nagasaki.
The story of an undying dream
To my beloved girl, whose lips are like poppies.
Our captain continued not in the seas -
He remained in Nagasaki forever.
He disappeared into a familiar tavern,
I looked at my daughter and her signs,
And I saw French features in her,
And the girl he fell in love with in Nagasaki.
The captain has no other fate,
Now he doesn’t like noise or fights.
He is immensely happy that his daughter is nearby -
Living memory of holy love from Nagasaki!
On the pier in a storm, when the thunderstorm roars
And the cry of seagulls, a victorious cry in the darkness.
Captain Famous for Love
Greedily swallows the splashes of sea attack waves!
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Here is the original text of the poem by V. Inber. Folk art turned an innocent girl's verse into a song, which even famous singers did not hesitate to perform.
Vera Inber - The Girl from Nagasaki
He is a cabin boy, his homeland is Marseille,
He loves quarrels, swearing and fights,
He smokes a pipe, drinks strong ale
And he loves a girl from Nagasaki.
She has such small breasts
She has tattooed marks on her...
But then the cabin boy goes on a long journey,
After breaking up with a girl from Nagasaki...
He has arrived. Hurries, barely breathing,
And he finds out that the gentleman is in a tailcoat
One evening, after eating hashish,
Stabbed a girl from Nagasaki to death.
Was there a boy?
She has traces of leprosy on her hands, she has tattooed marks...
Authorship is often attributed Paul Marcel(real name - Pavel Aleksandrovich Rusakov; 1908-1973). However, this version is wrong. Eat documentary confirmation because “The Girl from Nagasaki” was sung at the opening of the actors’ basement “Red Zucchini” in Kharkov on November 3, 1918. And the poem by Vera Inber, which I cited above, was published in the collection of poems “Frainable Words,” published by the author in 1922 in Odessa. It is unlikely that the young son of Rostov Jewish emigrants, who lived in Marseille in 1905-1918, was at that time familiar with the work of the Soviet poetess.
I also met opinions that the music for the song “Girl from Nagasaki” was written by Alexander Vertinsky. There are references that the artist performed this song during his stay in China. But Vertinsky’s Chinese emigration lasted from 1935 to 1943. And the song “The Girl from Nagasaki,” as we have already found out, became popular much earlier. So Alexander Vertinsky could hardly be the author of the song. At least there is no evidence of this. Even recordings of this song performed by him have not survived.
She has such small breasts, and her lips, her lips are scarlet, like poppies... Photo: Momoyama
And the version that is sometimes found that the author of the music for the song “Girl from Nagasaki” is Gemma Khalid, whose performance of the song is quite popular. Gemma Iosifovna Khalid was born in 1962 and could in no way influence the birth of this touching song.
Therefore on this moment we can safely say that the author of the music for the song “Girl from Nagasaki” is unknown.
New surge in popularity
It should be noted that the song about the captain’s love for a Japanese girl, very popular in the 20s and 30s, was forgotten for some time and was remembered only in the 50s and 60s of the last century.
Since then, the song “Girl from Nagasaki” has been performed by famous and not so famous singers: Vadim Kozin, Vladimir Vysotsky, bards of the 60s, Kira Smirnova, Dzhema Khalid, Arkady Severny, Alexander F. Sklyar, Alexander Malinin, the group “Bullet” and many other. You can find it on the Internet collection “Anthology of one song - The Girl from Nagasaki”, where the song is presented in 30 versions.
The song “The Girl from Nagasaki” was sung by several dozen performers
I suggest you listen to the song “Girl from Nagasaki” performed by Vladimir Vysotsky. For many, this performance is the standard.
Listen to V. Vysotsky’s song “The Girl from Nagasaki”
Happy ending... Unexpectedly
Nowadays the song about a Japanese girl is not very popular, the younger generation does not know it, and the older generation sings it only occasionally. In 2012 Valerian Proskuryakov decided to revive the half-forgotten song and wrote a sequel, that is, its continuation. Now the story about the Marseille captain and his beloved ends quite happily:
The years flew by, the captain became gray.
Arrived with the team again in Nagasaki.
And, finding myself in an old tavern,
He saw his love and the same signs...
Performed a new version of the song with a happy ending singer Sabina. Two videos were made for the song, which use fragments of popular films on maritime and East Asian themes. The new text suited the plot of the film “Wasabi” with Jean Reno especially well. I suggest you watch this particular clip. Ignore the fact that the music is credited to Gemma Khalid. We have already realized that this version is fundamentally wrong.
Listen to the continuation of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki”
I hope, friends, you were interested in learning more about the song “The Girl from Nagasaki”. Personally, I was especially pleased with the continuation of the story romantic love. It’s not a bad idea to come up with a “second episode” for a tragic song. What do you think of this idea?
If you hear a song about a girl from Nagasaki for the first time, then write in the comments your opinion about it - did you like it or not, can it be sung in our time or is it hopelessly outdated. And if the song is familiar to you, then share your memories associated with this song.
Next time, friends, I will tell you. I promise that some myths and misconceptions associated with this song will be debunked by me. Follow the publications!
Interesting? Tell your friends!
An amazing and even mysterious song. Many classify her as a thieves, although she is not at all purely a thieves. And, although this is not at all an old port song, as many believe, it has firmly entered the collection of “sea romance” songs, such as “In the Port of Cape Town”, “Ships Came into Our Harbor”.
And, in addition, disputes over the authorship of both poetry and music are still ongoing. Vertinsky and even Vysotsky were listed as authors. The original text, written back in the late 1920s, has been changed and supplemented by performers an endless number of times.
And who didn’t sing it! It was performed by Vadim Kozin, the bards of the 60s, Kira Smirnova, and Vladimir Vysotsky.
The lyrics of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” were written in the late 20s by the poetess Vera Inber, the music was composed by the then young composer Paul Marcel.
Yes, yes, the same Vera Inber, famous Soviet writer, laureate Stalin Prize(for the poem “Pulkovo Meridian”), and there is the author of the words of this song. In her youth, she wrote romantic poems, and this poem of hers, “The Girl from Nagasaki”, even in the pre-war years, became almost a folk song, even in some way, a criminal song.
Inber Vera Mikhailovna, (1890 - 1972). Born in Odessa. She was published there in the newspaper under the pseudonyms Vera Litti (little), Vera Imbert.
Vera Inber was the cousin of Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the October Revolution of 1917 and organizer of the Red Army. Survived the Leningrad siege. She was not touched for her relationship with Trotsky, but she took part in the persecution of Boris Pasternak.
Her husband, the talented journalist Nathan Inber, wrote about her: “a little woman whose lips smelled of raspberries, sin and Paris.”
The music for the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” was written by composer Paul Marcel Rusakov (1908 - 1973), also known as Pavel Aleksandrovich Rusakov. Born in Marseille, France, into a family of Russian Jews who emigrated from Russia due to the Jewish pogroms of the early 20th century. His father protested against the military intervention in Russia of 1918-1920, and the family was exiled to Petrograd.
This is how Pavel Rusakov ended up in Soviet Russia, began to be called Paul Marcel, wrote romances based on poems by Yesenin, Blok and Pasternak. He did not escape repression and spent 10 years in camps.
He wrote the music for famous song“Friendship” (When with a simple and tender gaze), which was included in the repertoire of V. Kozin, K. Shulzhenko, and L. Utesov, although disputes about its authorship still do not subside (the authorship is attributed to V. Sidorov, V. Kozin’s accompanist ).
The original lyrics of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” were repeatedly corrected and supplemented by both known and unknown “co-authors”. The original text contains only four quatrains (verses). But the main difference is at the beginning: “He is a cabin boy...”. This is the highlight, the essence, because young Vera Inber wrote romantic girlish poems.
He is a cabin boy, his homeland is Marseille,
He loves drinking, noise and fighting.
He smokes a pipe, drinks English ale,
She has beautiful green eyes
And a khaki silk skirt.
And a fiery jig in taverns
A girl from Nagasaki dances.
Amber, corals, scarlet as blood,
And a khaki silk skirt,
And ardent hot love
He's bringing a girl from Nagasaki.
Having arrived, he hurries to her, barely breathing,
And he finds out that the gentleman is in a tailcoat,
Tonight, after smoking hashish,
Stabbed a girl from Nagasaki to death.
original text from the book “Frainable Words” published in Odessa (1922)
Already in our time, the CD “Anthology of one song - The Girl from Nagasaki” (Genre: Chanson, Format: MP3) has been released, which contains as many as 21 performers of this song. (download) Listen, and the “moment of truth” comes: many performers do not understand at all the “soul” of this song, they are trying to remake it “for themselves”, and not grow to the romantic heights of this song.
For example, in a rock and roll performance, the port romance, the flair of dreamy sadness, and the unforgettable charm of the “yard” song completely disappear (Alexander F. Sklyar, the group “Bullet” and others). This is the same as the ballet “Lenin in October” - can you imagine Lenin in tights, jumping onto an armored car?
But there are performers who treat the original quite carefully.
Gemma Khalid
Lyrics of the song “Girl from Nagasaki” performed by Vladimir Vysotsky:
| He is a captain and his homeland is Marseille. He loves arguments, noises, fights, He smokes a pipe, drinks strong ale And he loves a girl from Nagasaki. She has traces of leprosy on her hands,
|
Corals as scarlet as blood And a khaki silk blouse And ardent and passionate love He's bringing a girl from Nagasaki. The captain returned from afar, She has such small breasts |
Arkady Severny
Bullet group
The authorship of Paul Marcel, as a composer can be filmed.
This is what the Theater Magazine writes (No. 7 of December 22, 1918) regarding the opening of the Red Zucchini Actors' Basement in Kharkov on November 3, 1918 (Sumskaya, 6)
“A guitar is ringing from somewhere. Drunken, gentle guitar by de Lazari. “My charabanc, charabanc.” This is Raisova. Raisa Mikhailovna herself. “He is a cabin boy, his homeland is Marseille.” “The Girl from Nagasaki”......taking the violin from the Romanian, someone plays “Charochka”. Music, wine, smiles. Of course it's a blast. But if you’re having fun at all, it’s a joy to be having fun.”
That is, it turns out that in 1918 the song was already popular, and Marcel was only 10 years old in 1818.
An amazing and even mysterious song. Many classify her as a thieves, although she is not at all purely a thieves. And, although this is not at all an old port song, as many believe, it has firmly entered the collection of “sea romance” songs, such as “In the Port of Cape Town”, “Ships Came into Our Harbor”.
And, in addition, disputes over the authorship of both poetry and music are still ongoing. Vertinsky and even Vysotsky were listed as authors. The original text, written back in the late 1920s, has been changed and supplemented by performers an endless number of times.
And who didn’t sing it! It was performed by Vadim Kozin, the bards of the 60s, Kira Smirnova, and Vladimir Vysotsky.
Authors
The lyrics of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” were written in the late 20s by the poetess Vera Inber, the music was composed by the then young composer Paul Marcel.
Yes, yes, that same Vera Inber, a famous Soviet writer, laureate of the Stalin Prize (for the poem “Pulkovo Meridian”), is the author of the words of this song. In her youth, she wrote romantic poems, and this poem of hers, “The Girl from Nagasaki”, even in the pre-war years, became almost a folk song, even in some way, a criminal song.
Inber Vera Mikhailovna , (1890 - 1972). Born in Odessa. She was published there in the newspaper under the pseudonyms Vera Litti (little), Vera Imbert.
Vera Inber was the cousin of Leon Trotsky, one of the leaders of the October Revolution of 1917 and organizer of the Red Army. Survived the Leningrad siege. She was not touched for her relationship with Trotsky, but she took part in the persecution of Boris Pasternak.
Her husband, the talented journalist Nathan Inber, wrote about her: “a little woman whose lips smelled of raspberries, sin and Paris.”
Vladimir Mayakovsky dedicated a very ambiguous poem to her, which is perceived very rudely by ear (especially if read “with expression”), and is therefore considered a rather caustic epigram on Inber.
Paul Marcel . The music for the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” was written by composer Paul Marcel Rusakov (1908 - 1973), also known as Pavel Aleksandrovich Rusakov. Born in Marseille, France, into a family of Russian Jews who emigrated from Russia due to the Jewish pogroms of the early 20th century. His father protested against the military intervention in Russia of 1918-1920, and the family was exiled to Petrograd.
This is how Pavel Rusakov ended up in Soviet Russia, began to be called Paul Marcel, wrote romances based on poems by Yesenin, Blok and Pasternak. He did not escape repression and spent 10 years in camps.
It was he who wrote the music for the famous song “Friendship” (When with a simple and tender gaze), which was included in the repertoire of V. Kozin, K. Shulzhenko, and L. Utesov, although disputes about his authorship have not subsided to this day (the authorship is attributed to V. .Sidorov, accompanist V.Kozin).
Original text
The original lyrics of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki” were repeatedly corrected and supplemented by both known and unknown “co-authors”. The original text contains only four quatrains (verses). But the main difference is at the beginning: “He is a cabin boy...”. This is the highlight, the essence, because young Vera Inber wrote romantic girlish poems.
Already in our time, the CD “Anthology of one song - The Girl from Nagasaki” (Genre: Chanson, Format: MP3) was released, which collected as many as 21 performers of this song. You listen, and the “moment of truth” comes: many performers do not understand the “soul” of this song at all, they try to remake it “for themselves”, and not grow to the romantic heights of this song.
For example, in a rock and roll performance, the port romance, the flair of dreamy sadness, and the unforgettable charm of the “yard” song completely disappear (Alexander F. Sklyar, the group “Bullet” and others). This is the same as the ballet “Lenin in October” - can you imagine Lenin in tights, jumping onto an armored car?
But there are performers who treat the original quite carefully.
Gemma Khalid
Vladimir Vysotsky
This recording of “Girls from Nagasaki” by Vladimir Vysotsky was made in a Paris studio.
Lyrics of the song “Girl from Nagasaki” performed by Vladimir Vysotsky:
He is a captain and his homeland is Marseille.
He loves arguments, noises, fights,
He smokes a pipe, drinks strong ale
And he loves a girl from Nagasaki.
She has traces of leprosy on her hands,
She's got tattooed marks
And in the evenings jig in taverns
A girl from Nagasaki dances.
She has such small breasts
And lips, lips as scarlet as poppies.
The captain goes on a long journey
And he loves a girl from Nagasaki.
Corals as scarlet as blood
And a khaki silk blouse
And ardent and passionate love
He's bringing a girl from Nagasaki.
The captain returned from afar,
And he learned that the gentleman in tails
Once I smoked hashish,
Stabbed a girl from Nagasaki to death.
She has such small breasts
And lips, lips as scarlet as poppies.
The captain goes on a long journey,
Not seeing the girl from Nagasaki.
And, nevertheless, the interpretation of the song made in 2012 based on the film “Wasabi” is of interest, something like “The Girl from Nagasaki. 20 years later":
“The years flew by, the captain turned gray.
Arrived with the team again in Nagasaki.
And, finding myself in an old tavern,
He saw his love and the same signs...
This is like a new “edition” of the song “The Girl from Nagasaki”, only with a happy ending.
Living memory of love from Nagasaki
