"And that means we need one victory ": the story of one of the most painful songs about the war

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The director of the film "Belorussky Station" Andrei Smirnov wanted a war veteran to write the song and therefore turned to the front-line poet Bulat Okudzhava. He resisted for a long time, complaining that he had switched to prose. And only when Smirnov persuaded Bulat Shalvovich to look at the material filmed at that time, he agreed.

Soon the words were ready, and along with the words, a melody was born to Okudzhava. True, he knew that the wonderful composer Alfred Schnittke was working on the music for this film and did not dare to insist on accepting his version. For the first time, the song of Okudzhava was listened to by Smirna, Schnittke and even as far as a person from the film crew. The bard, shy in front of Schnittke, began to play a melody on the piano with one finger and sing in a voice trembling with excitement. I finished and started making excuses: "Well, the music, of course, didn't work out … It was just that it was easier for me to write there." And suddenly Schnittke's voice rang out: "Sing it again … In my opinion, it turned out very well!" Encouraged, Okudzhava sang more boldly, and all those present began to sing along with him.

And then there was the shooting of the episode in which this song sounds … The song was supposed to be sung by Nina Urgant, the performer of the role of the former nurse of the airborne battalion. We did several takes, and the actress cried every time she sang. And suddenly, raising her tear-stained eyes, I saw that Papanov, Leonov, Glazyrin and Safonov were standing embracing and crying too … The director asked: "Nina, don't cry … Let the men cry … It's worse." The result was the only take that Urgant did not cry. It was he who entered the film.

No less interesting is the story of another song by Bulat Okudzhava - "Songs about Fools", which was prohibited by the Soviet censorship.