Songs by Bulat Okudzhava

About Okudzhava

In 1953 Okudzhava started publishing his works, In 1956 his first collection of poems (Lyric) was published in Kaluga. Subsequent anthologies include Islands (1959), The Merry Drummer (1964), On the Road to Tinatin (1964), Generous March (1967), and Arbat, My Arbat (1976). Okudzhava has also written prose works which, like his poems, have been translated into many languages. They include the tale Good-Luck, Schoolboy!, the novels Poor Avrosimov, Old-time Vaudeville, and Travels of the Dilettantes, the short novel Zhora the Photographer, and also a number of short stories. His play, "A Gulp of Freedom," has been performed in the USSR. He has also written the screenplays for two films: "Loyalty" and "Zhenya, Zhenechka, and 'Katyusha.' "

Like everyone, I began to write poetry in my childhood. While I was still young, I went as a volunteer to fight in World War II and was wounded several times. After the war, I graduated from Tbilisi University. Then I worked as a teacher in a small villaged in the Kaluga region. And there, by virtue of the shortage of competitors, I received recognition as the majore poet of the region. Only in Moscow, where I later moved, was the actual weakness of my poetry discovered, though it was already published and praised. The blow was strong and beneficial; after one year I wrote differently. About this time, I began to sing my verses to the accompaniment of a guitar. In the cousrse of the first few years, I sang in a close circle of friends, and in 1960, I performed publicly for the first time. -- B. S. Okudzhava