Broom Besoms / Наш старый дом

by Robert Burns and Samuil Marshak
a song by Alexander Gradsky

Наш старый дом was recorded by Gradsky and Skomorokhi between 1971 and 1974, released on the EP Александр Градский и ансамбль «Скоморохи» in 1978 and had been a staple of his live shows ever since. It’s another one of his songs based on a poem by Burns although with a few twists.

In Marshak’s classical translation, the song is subtitled “На мотив народной песни «Покупайте веники»” (“To the tune of the folk song Buy broom besoms”); the refrain “Buy broom besoms!” appears as an epigraph. By some reason, Marshak omitted the last stanza, “Be she green or gray”. In his turn, Gradsky dropped the “brooms” whatsoever replacing them with his own refrain: “Наш старый дом, хорошо нам будет в нём” (“Our old house, we’ll be just fine there”). While this latter seemingly has nothing to do with Burns’ (or Marshak’s) poem, at the same time it’s very much in the style of Burns.

Александр Градский: вокал, гитара Юрий Иванов: бас-гитара Сергей Зенько: флейта, дудка, саксофон Юрий Фокин: барабаны Alexander Gradsky: vocals, guitar Yuri Ivanov: bass guitar Sergey Zenko: flute, pipe, saxophone Yuri Fokin: drums

But wait. It looks like Broom Besoms was not even written by Scotland’s favourite son. In vain was I scouring my trusty little book The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (Oxford University Press, 1915) for it. The Complete Works published by Burns Country does not have it either. Why? Ralph McLean commented:

It is unlikely that Burns originally wrote these couplets, instead they are more likely to have been traditional pieces which he collected.

The buying of brooms was a common Scottish metaphor for female sexual adventures.

The alternate verses of this song continue the overt phallic symbolism of the previous version, but this time do so from the perspective of a man who still has the desire but not the ability to function as he once did.

“Overt phallic symbolism”? Well I never. I find both versions of the song (marked at the BBC web site as containing “some scenes of a sexual nature”) rather tame, especially by Burns’ standard — cf. the alternate version of the famous Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.

I don’t know if Gradsky, in the pre-internet era, was familiar with the aforementioned folk tune, which you can hear here interpreted by Annie Grace, Karine Polwart and Corrina Hewat. In any case, he came up with very different music.

Robert Burns Broom Besoms	Роберт Бёрнс, перевод С.Я. Маршака Песня на мотив народной песни «Покупайте веники»
Chorus: Buy broom besoms! Wha will buy them now? Fine heather ringers, Better never grew.	Покупайте веники! Вот хороший веник. Веничек из вереска. Не жалейте денег!
I maun hae a wife, Whatsoe’er she be; An she be a woman, That’s eneugh for me.	Мне нужна жена — Лучше или хуже, Лишь была бы женщиной, Женщиной без мужа.
If that she be bony, I shall think her right: If that she be ugly, Where’s the odds at night?	Толстая, худая — Это всё равно. Пусть уродом будет — По ночам темно.
O, an she be young, How happy shall I be? If that she be auld, The sooner she will die.	Если молодая, Буду счастлив с нею. Если же старуха, Раньше овдовею.
If that she be fruitfu’, O! what joy is there! If that she be barren, Less will be my care.	Пусть детей рожает, — Было бы охоты. А бездетной будет — Меньше мне заботы.
If she like a drappie, She and I’ll agree; If she dinna like it, There’s the mair for me.	Если любит рюмочку, Пусть не будет пьяница. А не любит рюмочки — Больше мне останется!
Be she green or gray; Be she black or fair; Let her be a woman, I shall seek nae mair.