Balāde par gulbi is a song by Latvian Rock

Latvian rock

Latvian rock has been an important part of Latvia's music scene since the 1980s, when it was a part of the discontents of Soviet rule.The city of Liepāja has an especially active rock scene. Līvi, Credo and Remix are from Liepāja, as are rock composers Imants Kalniņš and Zigmars Liepiņš.In the...

 band Pērkons

Perkons (band)

Pērkons was one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and is still performing in concerts. The group's lineup was Juris Kulakovs , Juris Sējāns , Leons Sējāns , Ieva Akurātere , Raimonds Bartaševics , Dainis Strazdiņš .At first, Pērkons played two completely...

, written by Māris Melgalvis (lyrics) and Juris Kulakovs (music). Written while Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

 was still part of USSR, it is noted for its anti-soviet subtext

Subtext

Subtext or undertone is content of a book, play, musical work, film, video game, or television series which is not announced explicitly by the characters but is implicit or becomes something understood by the observer of the work as the production unfolds. Subtext can also refer to the thoughts...

 - most of the song analyses the stupidity of killing a swan, but in the end resolves that the swan is so red that it should be killed (consider that in beginning of the 1980s soviet leaders were dying one after another and were usually mourned by broadcasting Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake

Swan Lake

Swan Lake ballet, op. 20, by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, composed 1875–1876. The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger...

), while the opening part of the song deals with a crow with no sense of humor sitting on a fresh grave and forcing her opinion on everyone.

Lyrics

Kārna vārna

Uz slapa kapa

Man savu patiesību ķērc

Vai tiešām viņa neattapa ka viss tas - tikai joka pēc

Ak vai cik stulbi

Ir nosist gulbi

Bet stulbāk vēl ja vēlāk žēl

Tad ir tik velnišķīgi stulbi - ik rietā sarkans gulbis kvēl

Tik stulbi kvēl

Ka jāsit vēl

Translation:

A skinny crow

On a wet grave

Croaking her truth to me

Didn't she really realize that it all is just for fun ?

Oh, how stupid

It is to beat swan dead

But it is even stupider

If you feel sorry later

It is so devilishly stupid - in each (sun)set a red swan glows

So stupidly glows

That (one) must beat again