Vysotsky's b-day

THERE WAS ONE MAN WHO DID NOT SHOOT: BOTH BURNS AND VLADIMIR VYSOTSKY SHARE THE SAME BIRTHDAY {1938-1980}

By Stephen Wilson

Vladimir Vysotsky's birthday is Jan. 25!

"We could sing many songs but nobody could replace him". declares the

line on a photo of Vladimir Vysotsky which has been placed before his

grave in the Vagankovo cemetery in Moscow. His sculptured grave is

the  first one which looms out to capture your eye as you enter the

graveyard. Snow was falling everywhere . It seemed to engulf and swallow

all of Moscow. But it did not bury Vysotsky's  grave. In deed, thousands of

admirers are sure to converge on the grave to lay yet more flowers on the

legendary poet, singer and actor on the 25th of January. Countless concerts,

complements paid and performances will be held to honor the poet's birthday

all over Russia.

His birthday coincides with the birthday of Robert Burns ! Is this just a

coincidence , accident or is it due to fate ? Did the poets have anything

in common despite the width of two centuries ? What is that enthralls

Russians with both those poets ? And how might some people interpret

the powerful, potent and stirring lyrics of some ballads?

On the surface, it may seem absurd to compare the  two poets. After all,

not only do two centuries separate them but they  grew up in

distinct cultures with a different mentality. You might be forgiven for claiming

there exists an unbridgeable gap between the poets. But when you dig

deeper and understand the main spirit of the poets a lot in common emerges.

Both poets adored old ballads, both admired William Shakespeare, both

felt sorry for the underdog ,they detested cruelty of any kind, and wrote poems

not about kings but the common man. They also implacably opposed war. You

have to read the lyrics of the credo of Vysotsky's poem 'I don't Love ' and Burns'

Honest Poverty to get the gist. They did not like people who were full of

themselves and expressed conceit. Vysotsky states in his poem that : "I

don't like people who hurt the innocent and strangers who try to read my

personal letters." Both poets were against romantically depicting war. In this

regard it is worth quoting the lyrics of two ballads of Burns to make the

point. In the ballad Killiecrankie Burns wrote :

An ye had been whare I hae been

Ye wad na been sae cantie ,O !

An ye had seen what i hae seen

On the braes O' Killiecrankie , O!

The meaning translated into standard English suggests : If you had

been or seen what I had experienced at this battle in 1689 you would

not feel cheerful or content. In other words , the battle was a nightmare.

In another Ballad 'Ye Jacobites by name' you read the following lines:

What makes heroic strife ?

To whet th' assassin's knife,

or hunt a parent's life

Wi ' Bluidie war.

A Russian Journalist, Igor Kots notes that in Vysostky's ballads you

don't find the words 'Motherland' or 'Victory'. His war ballads were

a far cry from all the old as well as trendy Patriotic poems which

seem crude, cliched and primitive. He simply wrote his ballads through

the eyes of a soldier who deeply and genuinely experienced it.

A poet is not just a poet in Russia. He can be regarded as a prophet,

a spokesperson for the powerless or inarticulate and even a philosopher.

We forget than in ancient times a poem could be a prayer, a charm or

spell to protect people. In a negative way it could be used as a curse.

In early Medieval Ireland, even a written law could be framed poetically

to lend it more authority. Vladimir Vysotsky did not like being called

a bard but viewed himself as a poet. He sang 600 ballads which

tell about the lives of prisoners, those who suffered in the Gulag, climbers

and soldiers. Partly because of his unique voice as well as lyrics, the

ballads haunt you. The words have an awesome resonance . They are

evocative. He gives a voice to the lost soldier, forgotten prisoner and the

mountain climber whose soul remains in the mountains. An engineer

and scientist, Andrei Polrakov told me "We don't argue about how one

should interpret his songs. We just enjoy listening and playing his songs.

The good thing is that those songs are about simple and ordinary people."

Eugene Entin , a poet and drummer said : " I think he is just great. I

especially like his war ballads ". Anna Wilson, an artist told me : " I love

him.He inspires me from head to foot ". Nobody had a bad word for him.

Perhaps part of the appeal is that Vysotsky was endowed with

enormous empathy. He had one of those rare talents of being able to

fully comprehend the intense suffering of many of the characters of his

songs. When war veterans heard his songs for the first time they were

convinced he had fought in the war. The poet had to disappoint them with

the claim : "Please don't make the mistake of mixing me with the characters

I  act out. They are different." In the war ballads you can quickly detect

the dark emotions of soldiers who experienced Post Traumatic Stress

Syndrome. The poet appears to be one of the few persons who not only

acknowledged their hidden suffering but felt compassion for them. People

felt that here was someone who actually cared for them. But the poet

also had a difficult life. Not only had he to fight alcohol and drug addiction

but was persecuted by the security services for 'Anti -Soviet Songs'. I  also

met a Russian poet who told me he was detained and arrested for simply

being a member of a Jazz Club during the 1980's.

Of course, many people will interpret his ballads in ways which the poet

never anticipated and imagined. Some people find a deeper meaning in

his words. More obviously, war veterans can detect the symptoms of

P.T.S.S. in war ballads like 'survivor Guilt ' or the loss of meaning and

devastating alienation of post war life. Others might find another meaning.

For instance , how might one interpret the lyrics of the Ballad : 'The one

who did not shoot ' ? The ballad tells of a story of an innocent soldier who

is arrested and sentenced to be executed for treason. While facing the

firing squad one soldier intentionally refuses to shoot. The fact that he

refuses to shoot allows the victim to narrowly recover from deep wounds.

Unfortunately, the good soldier who refused to shoot dies in battle and

breaks the heart of the soldier who survives. You can detect the familiar

symptom of survivor guilt where the surviving soldier asks : "Why is it that

I am still alive while a better man than me has died? I wish I could change

places with them." On a more optimistic note  'The Man Who Did Not

Shoot' offers an instructive lesson. We often mistakenly believe that

our own deeds don't amount to much because we feel our jobs, positions

and roles are insignificant. We might think "I am only a cleaner or unemployed

person so I can't change anything by my minor actions." According to

the English philosopher Derek Parfit  this is a mistake. Each and everyone

of us , by our actions, can significantly have an impact on the lives of other

people. For example, a cleaner in a Psychiatric hospital can unknowingly

help more patients than , say some, nurses or doctors . She might

simply take more time to greet or listen to the patients. Who really knows

the results of her actions? Now the soldier who did not shoot might have

reasoned , "It won't make any difference whether I shoot or not. It is all the

same. The other soldiers who shoot will surely kill him. " But when the man

who refuses to shoot decides that the main point is to do the right thing

and not shoot it does have an imperceptible result. The prisoner does survive

as just one bullet can make a distinct difference on whether he lives.

We all yearn for  a friend who does not shoot. In the same way we want

a man with the empathy of Vladimir Vysotsky or someone who can at least

understand our pain.  Small  wonder the great poet is missed!