I was born at the customs, I simply fell on the floor. Daddy -- half-legal trader, My other dad -- Interpol; Third one - J Edgar Hoover, My last father's -- cocaine; But they're all sarcophagus-bound, mama And I'm all alone with my pain. I've got only two phases, mama, Hell, I'm royalty -- give or take. 'Of Mice and Men' when I'm sober, mama But frequently -- 'Finnegan's Wake'. Been strung out day and night Through the last couple five-year plans So don't you be breathin' - I'm poison! - When I bust in on your trance. My heart is pure dope, My blood -- diethylamide You'd better quit staring at me, because -- Extinction will befall your kind. I've got only two phases, mama, I'm royalty -- give or take. 'Of Mice and Men' when I'm sober, mama But frequently -- 'Finnegan's Wake'. Rabid shrub -- prickly pear in the South, In the North it is fir, spruce and pine, There are shamans abound in those places, mama I'm your shaman -- of a different kind. I'm stuck on a high mental plane, I'm drunk on a cheap red wine, You've got all your gossamer matters, mama, And I've got'em reduced to one. I've got only two phases, mama, These airwaves my only grubstake, 'Of Mice and Men' when I'm sober, mama But frequently -- 'Finnegan's Wake'.
EditThis is an attempt to avoid the 'podstrochnik' frequently found in translations of BG's texts. The idea was to offer something that delivers the punch of the original but actually makes sense to a non-Rusophile. Something less literal and more literary, what do you think?