For this week’s blog I have decided to analyse a track “Dark Is The Night” by Mark Bernes, which was written for a movie about the Great Patriotic War (The World War II) “Two Soldiers” (Wikipedia contributors, 2024) (Музыка на советском телевидении, 2021).
This song gained immense popularity and became one of the most beloved and famous songs created during the Great Patriotic War in USSR. Director Leonid Lukov could not convincingly shoot the shot of a soldier writing a letter. After many unsuccessful attempts, he suddenly came up with the idea that a song could help him solve this scene. Arkady Dzyubin, the protagonist of the movie, played by Mark Bernes, sings this song to a guitar at night, in the rain, in a front dugout with a leaky roof. (Wikipedia contributors, 2024)
The Great Patriotic War is one of the most emotional topics for anyone who has Russian roots, as it was a huge disaster that has affected all families in terrible ways. This song is an intertwining between tremendous emotional pain and one last grain of hope.
“Dark is the night, only bullets whistling across the steppe.
Only the wind hums in the wires and the stars twinkle dimly.
On a dark night, my love, I know you’re awake.
And by your crib you secretly wipe away tears.” (Марк Бернес (Mark Bernes) – Тёмная ночь (Dark Night), no date)
The first verse of the song describes two sides of a loving relationship between a soldier and his wife, who is waiting for him to come back from war. Both awake, both thinking of each other, both in pain that is diluted by the thought of seeing each other one day, safe, healthy and in piece. The rest of the lyrics place a strong emphasis on the hope and love that lives within the soldier and his beloved woman, saving them both from giving up.
“I have faith in you, my dear friend.
This faith has kept me from a bullet in the dark night.
I’m happy, I’m calm in the battle of death.
I know you’ll meet me with love, no matter what happens to me.” (Марк Бернес (Mark Bernes) – Тёмная ночь (Dark Night), no date)
“This is a song about love, which, despite all the horrors of war, helps the soldier. It protects him. The soldier understands what he is fighting for – for love,” said Ilya Baranov, an actor of the Russian Army Theatre (Likhodedova, 2023).
This song is almost considered a prayer for salvation, and it is not only conveyed through the lyrical part of it, but also the melody and the instrumentation choice. The simplicity of such a classical combination of acoustic guitar and vocals creates a very intimate and vulnerable mood. The song conveyed the terrible atmosphere of wartime and, at the same time, strengthened the spirit of the soldiers at the front and helped those who remained at the rear. War songs instilled faith and hope that the war would soon end in victory.
As it is a song composed for a movie, I think it is worth noting what role it played in the plot of it. In Soviet films of those years, the most touching moments were often the scenes with music. The soulful musical accompaniment often added depth to the plot and evoked strong emotions in the audience, which was without any doubt achieved in this case. The heartfelt words and simple melody of the song were remembered by millions of people for many years, it was sung in the front trenches and deep in the rear, it was translated into many languages of the world. Women used to rock their children to this song, remembering those who were fighting for the Motherland at that time. The song “Dark Is the Night” has become a classic in the performing style of Mark Bernays, which was greatly facilitated by the famous movie.
Wikipedia contributors (2024) Dark Is the Night (Soviet song). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Is_the_Night_(Soviet_song)
Марк Бернес (Mark Bernes) – Тёмная ночь (Dark Night) (no date). https://genius.com/Mark-bernes-dark-night-lyrics
Музыка на советском телевидении (2021) Марк Бернес ‘Темная ночь’ (1943). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2CPZw995dY
Likhodedova, A. (2023) Песня «Темная ночь» была написана всего за одну ночь: история создания легендарной композиции. https://mir24.tv/news/16551349/pesnya-temnaya-noch-byla-napisana-vsego-za-odnu-noch-istoriya-sozdaniya-legendarnoi-kompozicii
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