Dark Eyes (song)

This article is about the Russian folk song. For other songs with the same title, see Dark Eye.

Dark Eyes (Russian: Очи чёрные, Ochi chyornye; English translation: Black Eyes; French translation: Les yeux noirs) is a Russian song.

The lyrics of the song were written by a Ukrainian poet and writer Yevhen Hrebinka. The first publication of the poem was in Literaturnaya gazeta on 17 January 1843.

The words were subsequently set to Florian Hermann's Valse Hommage^[1] (in an arrangement by S. Gerdel') and published as a romance on 7 March 1884.

Although often characterised as a Russian gypsy song, the words and music were written respectively by a Ukrainian poet and a German composer: Florian Hermann. Additionally, Hermann's melody bears noticeable resemblance to portions of the Concerto in Esf by Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Feodor Chaliapin popularised the song abroad in a version amended by himself.

Poem (original version by Hrebinka)

Russian	Transliteration	English translation
1. Очи чёрные, очи страстные Очи жгучие и прекрасные Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас Знать, увидел вас я в недобрый час 2. Ох, недаром вы глубины темней! Вижу траур в вас по душе моей, Вижу пламя в вас я победное: Сожжено на нём сердце бедное. 3. Но не грустен я, не печален я, Утешительна мне судьба моя: Всё, что лучшего в жизни Бог дал нам, В жертву отдал я огневым глазам!	1. Ochi chornyye, ochi strastnyye Ochi zhguchiye i prekrasnyye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya v nedobryi chas 2. Okh nedarom vy glubiny temnei Vizhu traur v vas po dushe moyei Vizhu plamya v vas ya pobednoye Sozhzheno na nyom serdtse bednoye 3. No ne grusten ya, ne pechalen ya Uteshitel'na mne sud'ba moya Vsyo chto luchshevo v zhizni Bog dal nam V zhertvu otdal ya ognevym glazam!	1. Dark eyes, passionate eyes Burning and splendid eyes How I love you, how I fear you Verily, I espied you in an ill-starred moment 2. Oh, not for nothing are you darker than the deep! I see mourning for my soul in you, I see a triumphant flame in you: A poor heart immolated in it. 3. But I am not sad, I am not sorrowful, My fate is soothing to me: All that is best in life, God gave us. In sacrifice I returned to the fiery eyes!

The following is a metrical translation (ie one that can be sung to the melody).

Oh, these gorgeous eyes, dark and glorious eyes,
Burn-with-passion eyes, how you hypnotise!
How I_ adore you so, how I fear you though,
Since I saw you glow! Now my spirit’s low!

Darkness yours conceal mighty fires real;
They my fate will seal: burn my soul with zeal!
But my love for you, when the time is due,
Will refresh anew like the morning dew!

No, not sad am I, nor so mad am I;
All my comforts lie in my destiny.
Just to realise my life’s worthiest prize
Did I sacrifice for those ardent eyes!.

Translation by [1] Peter Farnbank]

Lyrics (Chaliapin version)

from Chaliapin version

Russian (Cyrillic alphabet)	Transliteration (Latin alphabet)	English translation
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Очи чёрные, очи пламенны И мaнят они в страны дальные, Где царит любовь, где царит покой, Где страданья нет, где вражды запрет. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Не встречал бы вас, не страдал бы так, Я бы прожил жизнь улыбаючись, Вы сгубили меня очи чёрные Унесли на век моё счастье. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.	Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ochi chyornye, ochi plamenny I manyat oni v strany dal'nye Gde tsarit lyubov', gde tsarit pokoi Gde stradan'ya nyet, gde vrazhdy zapryet Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ne vstrechal by vas, ne stradal by tak Ya by prozhil zhizn' ulybayuchis' Vy zgubili menya ochi chyornye Unesli na vek moyo schast'ye Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas	Dark eyes, burning eyes Passionate and splendid eyes How I love you, How I fear you Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour Dark eyes, flaming eyes They implore me into faraway lands Where love reigns, where peace reigns Where there is no suffering, where war is forbidden Dark eyes, burning eyes Passionate and splendid eyes I love you so, I fear you so Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour If I hadn't met you, I wouldn't be suffering so I would have lived my life smiling You have ruined me, dark eyes You have taken my happiness away forever Dark eyes, burning eyes Passionate and splendid eyes I love you so, I fear you so Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour

Translation by Katya from russmus.net ([2])

Popular culture

• 1934 Al Jolson sings in Russian for the film Wonder Bar.
• 1936 In the film My Man Godfrey, Carlo (the artist-protege of Mrs. Bullock) often began this song before being interrupted in his artistic pursuit.
• 1937 The Ritz Brothers performed a parody of the song in the film On the Avenue.
• 1937 In the finale of the film Shall We Dance, Fred Astaire dances with a group of female dancers all wearing Ginger Rogers masks, with the real Ginger hiding among them. When she blurts out the words "oci ciornie", he picks her out from among the group and begins dancing with her.
• 1938 Maxine Sullivan recorded a swing version in Russian and English, accompanied by Claude Thornhill and members of John Kirby's sextet
• 1940 Django Reinhardt recorded three instrumental versions under the French translation "Les yeux noirs".
• 1940 It is mentioned frequently in the movie The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart.
• 1941 In W.C. Fields' film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, Gloria Jean sang this song in a scene where she finally finds her Uncle Bill (played by W.C. Fields) in Russia after he jumped out of the airplane that they were taking to retrieve his bottle of alcohol.
• 1942 Spike Jones recorded a parody of this song called "Hotcha Cornya (Dark Eyes)".
• 1943 The Warner Bros. cartoon Falling Hare used this song in a scene where Bugs Bunny unsuccessfully tries to break down an airplane door (while the airplane was in the air and running) in order to find the Gremlin who has been continuously taunting him.
• 1944 In the Universal Pictures cartoon Ski for two, Woody Woodpecker is singing the refrain of the song while ice-skating.
• 1947 Wingy Manone, trumpeter, and Edmond Hall, both from New Orleans, recorded a version of Dark Eyes. Edmond Hall's clarinet-solo is a classic and Wingy Manone sang a humorous nonsense-vocal.
• 1951 A Finnish version sung by Tauno Palo was used in the movie Ylijäämänainen
• 1954 Louis Armstrong did a version called "Otchi-Tchor-Ni-Ya", which in his unique New Orleans Creole patois sounded like "Oh Cha Chunya". The words were quite different from the proper translation of the song from Russian to English.
• 1958 Jazz organist Jimmy Smith performs the song as an instrumental on the live album Cool Blues.
• 1958 Wynton Kelly performs the song as an instrumental with Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones on Piano.
• 1959 The song is referenced in Robert Heinlein's novel Starship Troopers.
• 1966 This song is featured in the movie "Batman" during Bruce Wayne and Catwoman's date. Catwoman was disguised as the Russian journalist Kitka.
• 1969 "Ja lubljú tebjá (Ich liebe dich)" sung by Alexandra on the album Sehnsucht - Ein Portrait In Musik is a version of this song.
• 1970 Violetta Villas recorded the song which later became her signature hit in Poland. Villas recording is considered the best vocal interpretation ever of this song.
• 1973 Sara Montiel recorded a pop-rock version in Spanish titled "Ojos Negros."
• 1982 "Nostalgie (Nathalie)" sung by Julio Iglesias uses this song as a refrain.
• 1985 Bob Dylan wrote a song (with music and lyrics not related to this piece) titled "Dark Eyes", on the album Empire Burlesque.
• 1987 The song gives its name to Nikita Mikhalkov's film Dark Eyes.
• 1994 The song featured in The Leningrad Cowboys' Total Balalaika Show, featuring the full 160-member Alexandrov Ensemble.
• 1999 Sabine Azéma sings this song in the French film La Bûche.
• 2000 A version of this song was recorded by the American band Devotchka. It is featured on their debut album SuperMelodrama.
• 2000 Rachel Portman used this melody in the film Chocolat. It is titled "Chocolate Sauce" on the soundtrack.
• 2002 The computer adventure game Syberia featured the chorus of the song in the last part of the game and being whistled by a lonesome janitor. The whole song is also in the game. It is sung by the NPC Helena in the Epilogue.
• 2004 The song was used as the main theme for the TV mini-series, "The Mystery of Natalie Wood", a biopic about the actress Natalie Wood.
• 2006 A recording by Judy Morris features in the animated film Happy Feet.
• 2006 American figure skater Sasha Cohen used this song for her short program at the Winter Olympics.
• 2006 Swedish duo The Knife release the single Marble House, the vocal melody of which is reminiscent of Dark Eyes (though possibly unintentionally so).
• 2007 The song is performed in a scene of the David Cronenberg film Eastern Promises by a singer and accordion player Igor Outkine.
• 2008 Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir used the song as their original dance music.
• 2008 American gymnast Nastia Liukin used the version from the Well-Tempered Productions CD called Gypsy as arranged by Ilan Rechtman, (who is also the pianist on the recording with violinist Lara St. John) as her floor exercise music at the Summer Olympics.
• Folk metal band Turisas frequently incorporate a unique interpretation of this song as a finale for their song "In the Court of Jarislief" during live performances.
• 2009 - present American National gymnast Rebecca Bross uses a remix of the song as her floor music. She shares the same coach as Nastia Liukin, Valeri Liukin at WOGA (who is also Nastia's father).
• 2009 - a Japanese version was used in the Hime Uta 2 character CD for Strike Witches.
• 2010 Used in the glassandahalffull productions Spots vs. Stripes advert for Cadbury's dairy milk
• 2010 - Russian singer Vitas covered this song on his album Masterpieces of Three Centuries.
• 2011 - Used in the french Movie "Les Émotifs anonymes"

See also

• Dark Eyes, a Russian music compilation album that includes Dark Eyes
• The Red Army Choir , compilation album that includes Dark Eyes

References

1. ^ James J. Fuld. The book of world-famous music: classical, popular, and folk - Courier Dover Publications, 2000. - P. 417 (see also notes at p. 684).

External links

• Dark Eyes aka Les Yeux Noirs on Youtube
• Russian Music on the Net Translation was taken from this site
• Djangopedia description of song Includes chart. This is for Les yeux noirs, the French version of the song.
• English version