The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
The Ukrainian President's Theme Song?
My translation, as a public service.
The new President of the Ukraine, Volodomyr Zelensky, is (as I noted in an earlier post) not a career politician, but a prominent actor and comedian. How did he become famous? By playing a non-career-politician who is unexpectedly elected the President of the Ukraine. Anything we can do, he can do meta. The only thing better would have been if his character in the show had been an actor and comedian. (The character was actually a history teacher who first studied law before switching to history; Zelensky is trained as a lawyer.)
For whatever it's worth, here's the theme song (which, I've just learned, is called "саундтрек" in Russian) to Zelensky's TV show, which is called "Servant of the People," and which Zelensky apparently helped create. I think the song captures well the humor of the show; time will tell what it tells us about Zelensky the President rather than Zelensky the character and producer. Imagine it sung in a jaunty, carefree tone; also imagine it rhyming, which of course it does in Russian:
I love my country
Love my wife
Love my dog
I am a member of everything
Almost Superman
But rarely spoil for a fight.
Everyone knows
What I'm sentenced to—
"Servant of the people."I have almost everything
Dignity and honor
And even shouts of "Bravo."
The people issued me
My personal airplane
And why not? I have the right.
On my belly—right here—
I'll get a tattoo
"Servant of the people."
The author is Dmytro Shurov (or Dmitriy Shurov in Russian) of the band Pianoбой.
