Lovely, Brothers, Lovely (Lyubo Bratsy Lyubo)

Recorded version for ABC Musical Solidarity, with alternative version of the original Russian verse, translating the second line as "our tachanka clears the road"
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Em Am D Em (Dm Gm C Dm)
Hooves rolling like thunder, hooves rolling like thunder
D Em B7 (C Dm A)
Rode like a black river to the open jaws of war
Em Am D G (Dm Gm C F)
First the Maxim’s chatter, then the crying of the shattered
D Em B7 (C Dm A)
bodies of the soldiers lying broken on the shore

Как на грозный Терек выгнали казаки,
Выгнали казаки сорок тысяч лошадей.
И покрылось поле и покрылся берег,
Сотнями порубленных, пострелянных людей.

Chorus 
Lovely, brothers, lovely- how fine it is to live
and with our brave commander we have no tears to give
Lovely, brothers, lovely- how fine it is to live
and with our brave commander we have no tears to give

Любо, братцы, любо, любо, братцы, жить
С нашим атаманом не приходится тужить.
Любо, братцы, любо, любо, братцы, жить
С нашим атаманом не приходится тужить.

When the first round hit me, when the first round hit me,
When the first round hit me, I could no longer ride 
When the next round hit me, when the next round hit me
When the next round hit me, it cut me through the side

А первая пуля, а первая пуля,
А первая пяля в ногу ранила коня.
А вторая пуля, а вторая пуля,
А вторая пуля в сердце ранила меня

Chorus

The army crossed the border, our people chained and tortured
Bat’ko led us through the night, a hunted rebel band
On the left, the Red soldiers, on the right, the Whites
We ride with flags as black as the soil of the land

Aрмии били в барабаны, пытали народ
палят синее небо и золотые поля
Красная армия слева, белая армия справа
с флагами, мы едем черны как земля

Chorus

My hair like rye in summer, my eyes like pools of water
Will feed the swaying heather and where the sunflowers grow
My bones will soon be bleaching, my heart so bravely beating, 
Will fly over the steppes in the mouths of wild crows

Кудри мои русые, очи мои светлые,
Травами, бурьяном, да полынью зарастут.
Кости мои белые, сердце мое смелое,
Коршуны да вороны по степи разнесут


This is my translation of the Cossack folk ballad, "Lyubo, Bratsy, Lyubo", which is a war song depicting the death of a young Cossack. I have replaced the third verse of the original with a verse depicting the fight of the Black Army partisans of the Russian Revolution, and a Russian language version of this verse. In the recorded version on the album "Mother Anarchy", the second verse of this verse translates as "our tachanka clears the road". On the version I now perform, it translates as "[the armies] burn the blue sky and golden fields". 
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