American Boy, Уеду с Тобой! Russian Vocabulary Lesson


Posted on December 11th, 2011

Russian Songs by group KombinatsiyaHave you ever pretended to be a famous singer when you were little?
Using a hairbrush as a microphone, you would dance around the living room singing along to your favourite song. Isn’t it fun? A few years back (when I was a teenage girl), I used to do that to! I would sing along to my favourite popular Russian songs at that time. Ah, good times…

In my article Learn Russian by Singing Songs I shared a few tips on how to improve your Russian language skills with songs in Russian. Today, I prepared a vocabulary lesson with a few interesting and useful words and phrases that you might find in Russian lyrics.

While learning Russian grammar from lyrics may not be a good idea, lyrics can help you to learn Russian slang, idioms and new words. The songs that I picked for today’s vocabulary lesson were popular in Russian-speaking countries in 90s. At that time it was popular to use English words and expressions in lyrics. This is why while listening to the songs or reading through the lyrics below you may notice that English words were rhymed with Russian words.  I found this very amusing and thought I would share a couple of these songs with you.

A Russian Song About an American Boy

And here comes the first song “American Boy” by Kombinatsiya.
(Please, wait for a sec, don’t play, I’ll have to get my hairbrush…. Ok, I’m back :lol: )

“Какие Люди в Голливуде!”, группа “Комбинация”

Шикарный мистер к нам подходит как-то раз
И говорит, не отводя знакомых глаз,-
Какие девочки, откуда, как зовут,
И не хотите ль прокатиться в Голливуд.

Простой бухгалтер был упорным, словно танк,
Контору пыльную теперь сменил на банк.
Достал бумажник он и, зеленью шурша,
Нас приглашает прокатиться в США.

Припев:

Какие люди в Голливуде,
Сплошные звёзды, а не люди.
Сплошной о’кей и вери гуд,
Нас приглашают в Голливуд.
Нас приглашают в Голливуд.

От предложенья сразу кругом голова,
Мы сразу вспомнили знакомые слова.
What is your name и I love you, и how much,
Жизнь показалась чередой сплошных удач.

Пусть наши мальчики немножко подождут,
Огнями манит нас далёкий Голливуд.
Пусть Голливуд запомнит наши имена,
К тебе вернёмся мы, любимая страна.

Припев:

Какие люди в Голливуде,
Сплошные звёзды, а не люди.
Сплошной о’кей и вери гуд,
Нас приглашают в Голливуд.
Нас приглашают в Голливуд.

Here is a good example of how well Russian and English words rhyme together:

От предложенья сразу кругом голова,
Мы сразу вспомнили знакомые слова.
What is your name и I love you, и how much,
Жизнь показалась чередой сплошных удач.

Some usefull vocabulary from the lyrics:

Шикарный мистер [shee-KAR-niy MEES-ter] posh mister
Прокатиться  [pra-ka-TEET’- sya] go for a ride
Голливуд [ga-lee-VOOT] Hollywood
Зелень [ZYE-lyen’] slang term for dollars
США [se-she-A] USA
Кругом голова [KROO-gam ga-la-VA] or you can also say голва кругом [ga-la-VA KROO-gam], this idiom means “my head started spinning”
Череда сплошных удач [chee-ree-DA splash-NIH oo-DACH] sequence of sheer luck

Hope you had a Russian4real vocabulary lesson. If you would like to sing along these or any other Russian songs, you can try this free Russian karaoke web-site, where you can browse songs by their names or by the singer’s name.

Best of luck learning Russian! :)

Viktoria.

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