Bulat Okudzhava's black staircases

[Simon Franklin]

Pesen'ka pro chernogo kota:

"So dvora pod"ezd izvestnyi
pod nazvan'em 'chernyi khod'.
V tom pod"ezde, kak v pomest'e,
prozhivaet chernyi kot.

On v usy usmeshku priachet,
temnota emu kak shchit.
Vse koty poiut i plachut -
etot Chernyi kot molchit.

etc.

The "Chernyi khod" is, of course, more prosaically rendered as "back" 
rather than "black"

Simon Franklin

--On 30 November 2007 12:06:43 -0600 Muireann Maguire <mm504 at CAM.AC.UK> 
wrote:

> In her book 'Common Places' Svetlana Boym quotes a song (in English
> translation) by Bulat Okudzhava, which is apparently dedicated to the
> 'black staircases' of Soviet communal apartment buildings. Unfortunately,
> the quote isn't referenced. After trawling through many Okudzhava poems,
> I still haven't managed to trace the reference to either 'black
> staircases' or 'black cats' which 'never cry nor sing' (in the same
> song). If anyone can tell me which Okudzhava song is being cited, I'd be
> very grateful.
>
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_________________________________________________________
Professor Simon Franklin,
University of Cambridge, Department of Slavonic Studies,
Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA
_________________________________________________________

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