French lyrics by Maxime Le Forestier
Italian lyrics by Sergio Secondiano Sacchi
Unbelievably, until now I was not aware of this version sung by the author in French.
The (Russian-language) original was composed by Vysotsky for the 1975 sci-fi drama The Flight of Mr. McKinley (Бегство мистера Мак-Кинли) but was left out of the movie. The widely accepted name Прерванный полёт appears to be a back-translation of Le Vol Arrêté, the title of the song on the 1977 French LP Vladimir Vissotsky and the 1981 (posthumous) album Le Vol Arrêté; Vysotsky himself used to announce the song as Недолюбил. The phrase “прерванный полёт” does not appear anywhere in the lyrics.
According to Russian Wikipedia, the author was not quite satisfied with Le Forestier’s translation. (Yes it’s far from being true to the letter; for one, the words “la fin du bal” do not correspond to anything in the Russian text.) But here it is, arguably the most popular Vysotsky song among the Francophone performers. Its Italian counterpart, Il volo interrotto, translated by Sergio Secondiano Sacchi, has been interpreted by the likes of Franchesco Guccini and Eugenio Finardi. I’m sure Vladimir Semyonovich would approve of this wonderful “acquired in translation” bit:
Он начал робко — с ноты «до», |
Ed intonò la voce in “la” |
It probably won’t surprise you that my favourite interpretations of the Russian original is the one by Alexander Gradsky who sadly passed away last year.
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