Tops and Bottoms[*]
Moon like a turnip, stars like beans[**]Thank you, mama, for your bread and saltSoul is the root, the body is the topMerry times are coming, guys!
The spring rain was wetting the grocer'sThe musician Selivanov hanged himself on his scarf[***]No one knew it would be that funnyNo one knew it would be so much fun
A little boy found a machine gunIt happened so he doesn't live anymore[****]In the kitchen he buttered his breadChewed it, drank some water and put the gun against his temple
And while he was eating and drinking from the glassThe poet Bashlachev fell out of the window and killed himself[*****]Oh-oh, the trap has workedYet another little animal has been given to our hands
The world woke up from the heavy sleepAnd an even greater spring cameThe bed moaned under the weight of bodiesGoddamn, so much fun!
I broke the cap of my penA dead man was walking toward meBreakfast, dinner and supperThe man is dead and we're not yet[******]
Moon like a turnip, stars like beansThank you, mama, for your bread and saltMerry times are coming, guys!Oh-oh, it can't get funnierOh-oh, it just can't get any funnier
[*]The title refers to the popular folk tale.[**]A line from the poem by Alexander Prokofyev.[***]Dmitry Selivanov was a fellow Siberian musician, the leader of the band Промышленная Архитектура (Promyshlennaya Arkhitektura/Industrial Architecture) and one of GrOb guitarists. His suicide in 1989 affected Letov a lot; this song and "Лоботомия" were dedicated to his memory[****]A reference to the popular cycle of black-humored poems about "a little boy" who dies in various quirky ways from poem to poem. One of the most popular poems goes: "A little boy found a machine gun in the basement/Nobody lives in the village anymore".[*****]Alexander Bashlachev was a poet, singer-songwriter and guitarist from Cherepovets, Russia, a cult figure in Russian rock scene. He commited suicide in 1988.[******]Possibly a reference to the hit song by Аквариум (Aquarium), "Rock'n'Roll is Dead (But We're Not Yet)" (1983)