Confession of Lyubov Uspenskaya: “Pugacheva ruined my song”

Today, the star of Russian chanson Lyubov Uspenskaya celebrated her 70th birthday in one of the concert halls of the capital, where she performed the song “Russia”. The singer, beloved by millions of compatriots, told us in an interview about the scandal surrounding this song and the coveted Russian citizenship, which, ironically, the US citizen has been waiting for for many years.

– My songs reach a person and influence his inner world, his state of mind. This is success! – Lyubov Uspenskaya admitted in a conversation with MK, “I always strive for this, carefully selecting them for my repertoire. For the song “Russia”, which I performed in a duet with Lena Sever at the Golden Gramophone, I received the Legend of Russian Music award. Russia, I believe in your strength. I sang it for the first time in 1991, I recorded it when I lived in America.

– But in Russia this song by Reznik is better known performed by Pugacheva, which she has sung since 1993…

“She ruined it, but didn’t sing it!” Shameful. They gave Alla this song, they didn’t even say that it was my song. That I have already recorded it in my album, that my ideas were in the creation of this song. They contained the whole meaning of the song. This is not just a song about Russia, in it I talk about my path: “I have traveled so many roads in the difficult separation from you.” Why the hell is Pugacheva singing about roads? What does she have to do with this? She later admitted to me that she was drunk, that she didn’t even know that it was my song, and apologized. I mixed up the melody, mixed up the words. “In general, I never get involved in such topics,” she told me (Pugacheva – author). When she sang “Russia” I crossed her off my list.

– When did “Russia” sound again in your performance?

– This happened on the new year 2022. On a television program on the federal channel they showed an episode of the song “Russia” performed by me, with my ballet. The girls were in Russian folk costumes – they looked like swans. Two months later, I realized that this song is so relevant that I need to sing it again. And on February 24, my birthday, the SVO began. And on this day I was finally convinced that we all need this song even more now.

We cannot live without faith and hope. If people turn away and are indifferent, how will that be? Today people have lost their bearings. Not so long ago people began to live better and travel abroad. But today there are scoundrels who have earned millions and billions and left the country, not because we don’t have freedom of speech in our country, as I once left Russia in the 70s, when there was a dictatorship.

I left Russia with 100 dollars in my pocket. And I came to America not for money, but for freedom. And today those scoundrels and traitors who are not leaving Russia in freedom are leaving Russia. They are going to save their investments and real estate, they are betraying the country.

– Are you still a US citizen?

– Yes, I am an American citizen and so is my daughter. But we decided to get Russian citizenship. Although I was born in Ukraine, I love Russia, I think that this is my country and I never want to leave Russia in my life.

– What difficulties do you have in obtaining Russian citizenship?

– That’s it, I’ll get it soon. We have already passed the Russian exam (laughs). I passed it along with the Tajiks. They told me just like that: “Well, we understand that you know the language, Lyubov Zalmanovna, but with your daughter Tatyana everything is a little more complicated.” Tatyana, not so well known to them, “Tanya, you are an American, how do you think, in what language”? – they asked their daughter. Tatyana is an educated, intelligent girl who knows five languages. She answered them in such a way that they understood that they needed to be more careful with her.

MK HELP

The song “Russia” was written more than a quarter of a century ago by the poet Ilya Reznik. In the fresh performance of the queen of chanson, she has undergone a number of changes. Namely: Uspenskaya performs the fourth line of the first verse in a new interpretation, instead of “And a new road has not been found, but the old one leads into the abyss” – “And I believe that everything will be passed, we will break forward together.” In the first chorus to “Russia”, instead of the third and fourth lines: “You knew kings and holy fools, you endured tyrant leaders. You stand before me, my Motherland, albeit naked, but without chains.” Lyubov Uspenskaya sings: “You are a hall of bitter suffering, you have heard the cries of mothers. When she was again engulfed in flames, she lost her sons.” Everything else remained untouched.