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Friday, December 04, 2009

‘Elect Me’: A Song That Nails Hopefuls

From the frontman of Tartak, one of the bands that cheered the crowds during the Orange Revolution...

Enjoy this hit single by Sashko Polozhynsky, the guy who puts the reality of our presidential race into rhymes.

Even if you don’t understand Ukrainian, you’ll find the video and the Limp Bizkit-style music entertaining.

The video opens with a comic scene of former president Kravchuk endorsing Yanukovych in the 2004 presidential campaign. In this campaign, Kravchuk endorses Yanukovych’s main rival: Tymoshenko.

The voiceover idolizes Lenin, coming from the intro to a Soviet recording of his “Что такое Советская власть?” (“What is Soviet power?”) speech.



Poetically translated, the song’s refrain goes like this:

My fellow Ukrainians, here’s the deal
Make me the president of your dreams
And if you want protection from treason
Let me run a dictatorship for a reason

Video uploaded from: http://censor.net.ua/go/offer/ResourceID/140682.html
Original sources: http://sashko.com.ua

3 comments:

briaxis said...

I heard this song for the first time a couple of weeks ago while listening to some Internet radio station, and I immediately thought Polozhynsky had managed to tap the zeitgeist again, just as he did in 2004. Although I guess "Я не хочу" hasn't lost any of its edge since then...

Anyway, a very "tasty" translation of yours... It keeps the song's genuine flavour.

Briaxis

elmer said...

This is very, very clever.

Out of 18 presidential candidates, I can think of only 2 (Hrytsenko and Tyahnybok) who could not more accurately use the following campaign promises:

"I'm not going to change a thing. I'm going to let the oligarchs continue to rob Ukraine blind, because it's convenient for me and my family - plus, I get free jet rides. I'm not going to eliminate corruption, because my brand of corruption is clean and good for the country, as opposed to those other crooks. Akhmetov, Kolomoisky, Hajduk, Taruta, Firtash, Zhevago, Pinchuk, Chernovetsky the space cadet, and all the rest - they really need some money to buy their mansions in London, their yachts, and mining companies in West Virginia - so I'm going to do everything I can to help them. You people can keep distrusting government all you want - you're on your own."

Taras said...

Briaxis,

You’re welcome!

Indeed, one can view “Виберіть мене” as a sequel to the Orange Revolution-era “Я не хочу” song, with the list of crooks now greatly expanded.


Elmer,

That’s the way the story goes.

Tymoshenko might just as well have said: “Corruption in my government? I’ve never heard of it! When I come home, I’m too tired. When I go to work, I’m too busy.”