Here is that song about Russian Roads again.
It's worth learning Russian just to fully understand
The beauty of rutted, muddy, almost impassible roads
At spring breakup (Alaskans will understand)
When the freeze-thaw cycles turn roads into mush
My favorite bits are near the end…
When we retreat, Susanin goes before us
The Russian Road is bequeathed to us by God
You can feel the love for the awful mess these roads make.
Ivan Susanin is a folk hero.
When Nazi soldiers demanded that he lead them to the partisans
He asked, Straight there?
They said yes, so he led them into impassible swamps
When they realized the trick and got angry
They killed him
But too late they realized that without a guide,
They could not get out of the swamps.
The Eastern Front was a territory RICH in swampland
The singer has put on old fashioned WWI army clothes
And like the soldiers fighting the Nazis,
He plays an accordion to sing his folk song