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Dark eyes, burning eyes
Passionate and splendid eyes
How I love you, How I fear you
Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour
Dark Eyes (Russian: Очи чёрные, Ochi chyornye; English: Black Eyes; French: Les yeux noirs) is the most famous Russian song.
The lyrics of the song were written by a Ukrainian poet and writer Yevhen Hrebinka. The first publication of the poem was in Literaturnaya gazeta on 17 January 1843.
The words were subsequently set to Florian Hermann’s Valse Hommage (in an arrangement by S. Gerdel’) and published as a romance on 7 March 1884.
Although often characterised as a Russian gypsy song, the words and music were written respectively by a Ukrainian poet and a German composer: Florian Hermann. Feodor Chaliapin popularised the song abroad in a version amended by himself.
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Russian
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие,
Очи страстные и прекрасные,
Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас,
Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.
Очи чёрные, очи пламенны
И мaнят они в страны дальные,
Где царит любовь, где царит покой,
Где страданья нет, где вражды запрет.
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие,
Очи страстные и прекрасные,
Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас,
Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.
Не встречал бы вас, не страдал бы так,
Я бы прожил жизнь улыбаючись,
Вы сгубили меня очи чёрные
Унесли на век моё счастье.
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие,
Очи страстные и прекрасные,
Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас,
Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.
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Transliterated
Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie
Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye
Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus’ ya vas
Znat’ uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas
Ochi chyornye, ochi plamenny
I manyat oni v strany dal’nye
Gde tsarit lyubov’, gde tsarit pokoi
Gde stradan’ya nyet, gde vrazhdy zapryet
Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie
Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye
Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus’ ya vas
Znat’ uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas
Ne vstrechal by vas, ne stradal by tak
Ya by prozhil zhizn’ ulybayuchis’
Vy zgubili menya ochi chyornye
Unesli na vek moyo schast’ye
Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie
Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye
Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus’ ya vas
Znat’ uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas
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Translation
Dark eyes, burning eyes
Passionate and splendid eyes
How I love you, How I fear you
Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour
Dark eyes, flaming eyes
They implore me into faraway lands
Where love reigns, where peace reigns
Where there is no suffering, where war is forbidden
Dark eyes, burning eyes
Passionate and splendid eyes
I love you so, I fear you so
Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour
If I hadn’t met you, I wouldn’t be suffering so
I would have lived my life smiling
You have ruined me, dark eyes
You have taken my happiness away forever
Dark eyes, burning eyes
Passionate and splendid eyes
I love you so, I fear you so
Verily, I saw you at a sinister hour
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