"Lovely, Brothers, Lovely"[a][b] is a Russian and Cossack traditional song. The song became popular after the release of the Soviet film Alexander Parkhomenko (1942) where it was performed by Boris Chirkov.
Synopsis
The Cossacks (in some versions: Tatars,[1] etc.) led 40,000 horses to the Terek River. After the bloody battle, one bank of the Terek is covered by the dead men and animals. The fatally wounded hero remembers about his wife, his mother, and his steed. Feeling sorrow for the two latter, he mourns his fate.
According to several authors, the song is dedicated to the events of the Russian Civil War (1917 – 1922).[4][5] Other sources mention it as a piece of Cossack folklore.[6][7]
The song became extremely popular after the release of the Soviet film Alexander Parkhomenko (1942) where it was performed by Boris Chirkov. In 1942 – 1943, a tankers adaptation was created, based on the Chirkov's version.[8][9]
^Its name is derived from the first row of the refrainЛюбо, братцы, любо, любо, братцы, жить ("'Tis lovely, brothers, lovely, lovely to live, brothers").
^Nikolaev, Petr Alekseevich; Baskakov, V. N., eds. (1989). Русские писатели, 1800-1917: биографический словарь. А—Г. Русские писатели 11-20 вв. серия биографических словарей (in Russian). Vol. 1. Moscow: Советская энциклопедия. ISBN978-5-85270-136-7. LCCN89208448. OCLC21334760.