Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. In a Faraway Kingdom.
Commentary to the song “The Gutsy Fellow”.
The hero of this song symbolizes the United States, whose exceptionalism was clearly elucidated by Walt Garlington in the article “Americanism Will Always Be at War with Traditional Peoples” (2024).
Or, as it is put by the editor of Katyusha Information Agency (this site is in Russian), “American messianism presupposes the universal applicability of its (false) understanding of truth, its (false) vision of good. And therefore it presupposes the possibility of imposing them on those who are slow on the uptake by any means, be it carpet bombing or nuclear strikes, be it financial and economic pressure. This ‘Shining City upon a Hill’ is, in essence, an anti-city, an anti-Christ <city>. For its radiance is directed only toward the earth.”
The song was written for the film “Armed and Very Dangerous” (1977).
The translation was adapted from George Tokarev’s one.