Flanders and Swann Online - At the Drop of Another Hat

At the Drop of Another Hat
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In the Desert

And now Swann has another song, that's right, isn't it?
DS: I have, my dear fellow.
MF: My dear chap. It's a foreign song, isn't it?
DS: It is a foreign song.
MF: It's not in Greek by any chance?
DS: No, no, no.
MF: Well, I'm delighted to hear it.
DS: No, this one's in Russian.
MF: Ugh!
DS: Yes, it's in Russian. Here it is actually. It comes from my family collection of, er, well, I have acquired a considerable family collection. This is an example of Caucasian café chantant. And, er, it's called "Verbludiy" -
MF: [mumbles] sounds ver' bloody awful!
DS: Well, I have to translate this as I go along. It's called In the Desert.

Russian	Transliteration	Swann's Translation
СТОИТ ПУСТЫНЯ	Stoit Pustynia	In the desert
ОДИН, ОДИН ВЕРБΠГОД ИДЁТ	Odin, Odin, verbliud idiet	A camel is approaching
ДРУТОЙ, ДРУТОЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ИДЁТ	Drugoi Drugoi verbliud idiet	Another camel is approaching
ТРЕТИЙ, ТРЕТИЙ, ТРЕТИЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ИДЁТ	Treti, Treti, Treti verbliud idiet	A third camel is approaching
ЦЕТВЁРТЫЙ, ЦЕТВЁРТЬІЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ИДЁТ	Chetvertii, Chetvertii verbliud idiet	A fourth camel is approaching
ПЬІТЫЙ, ШЕСТОЙ, СЕДЬМОЙ, ВОСЬМОЙ, ДЕВЯТЫЙ, ДЕСЯТЫЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ИДЁТ	Piatii shestoi sedmoi vosmoi deviatyi desiatyi verbliud idiet	A fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth camel
ЩЕΠЫЙ КАРАВАН ВЕРБΠГОДОВ ИДЁТ	Tselyi Karavan verbiudov idiet	A whole caravan of camels is approaching
ОДИН, ОДИН ВЕРБΠГОД ЧШЁΠ	Odin, Odin verbliud ushol	One camel moves on
ДРУТОЙ, ДРУТОЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ЧШЁΠ	Drugoi, Drugoi verbliud ushol	The second camel moves on
ТРЕТИЙ, ТРЕТИЙ, ТРЕТИЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ЧШЁΠ	Tretii, Tretii, Tretii verbliud ushol	And the third
ЦЕТВЁРТЫЙ, ЦЕТВЁРТЬІЙ, ВЕРБΠГОД ЧШЁΠ	Chetvertii, Chetvertii verbliud ushol	{Silence}
ПЬІТЫЙ, ШЕСТОЙ, СЕДЬМОЙ, ВОСЬМОЙ, ДЕВЯТЫЙ, ДЕСЯТЫЙ ВЕРБΠГОД ЧШЁΠ	Piatii, shestoi, sedmoi vosmoi, deviatyi desiatyi verbliud ushol
ЩЕАЫЙ КАРАВАН ВЕРБΠГОДОВ ЧШЁΠ	Tselyi Karavan verbliudov ushol	The whole caravan of camels has moved on
ОДИН, ОДИН ВЕРБΠГОД ОТСТАЁТ	Odin, Odin verbliud otstaiet	One camel is lagging
ОДИН, ОДИН ВЕРБΠГОД ОТСТАΠ	Odin, Odin verbliud otstal	One camel has fallen behind
ОДИН, ОДИН ЧШИБ НОГУ	Odin, Odin ushib nogu	It has hurt its foot
ОЧЕНЬ ЖАΠКО ЕТО	Ochen zhalko evo	What a pity
СТОИТ ПУСТЫНЯ	Stoit Pustynia	In the desert

Originally from the album 'At The Drop of Another Hat'.
Many thanks to Jonathan S Farley for providing the Russian text and transliterations. He also pointed out the deliberate mistake in the introduction - "Verbludiy" (ВЕРБΠГОД) actually means "Camel".

In the Desert

Russian

Transliteration

Swann's Translation