Just an Old Russian love song, writ by hacks a day ago,
And in every square the spies are there,
Should you speak the truth? Nowhere left to go
You curse and swear and tell them all,
A Stahkhanovite till dawn, (1)
No need no more to dream at all,
The vodka flows on and on.

Just an old Russian love song,
One for those who're never free,
Just an old Russian love song,
A corpse hanging from a tree.

To dam our ears and shut our eyes and ignore the soundless screams,
When the sun won't show;
To line us up against the wall,
And prove to us once more just what we need to know.
When sleepless Stalin calls, (2)
The Lubyanka dries your tears, (3)
And every truth goes to smoke and ash (4)
Amid the nightmare 'tween your ears.

Just an old Russian Love song,
In a cell painted just for me,
Just an old Russian Love song,
Gletkin's coming to set me free. (5)
Just an old Russian Love song,
In a hell made just for me,
Just an old Russian Love song,
Nine grams is the cure for me. (6)

To recall a world once vanished, that it might never live again...