Leningrad – English Lyrics

• By: Billy Joel
• Album: Storm Front

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

Victor was born

The spring of '44

And never saw

His father anymore

A child of sacrifice

A child of war

Another son who never had

A father after Leningrad

Went off to school

And learned to serve his state

Followed the rules

And drank his vodka straight

The only way to live

Was drown the hate

The Russian life was very sad

And such was life in Leningrad

I was born in '49

A Cold War kid in McCarthy times

Stop 'em at the 38th parallel

Blast those yellow reds to hell

Cold War kids were hard to kill

Under their desks in an air raid drill

Haven't they heard we won the war

What do they keep on fighting for?

Victor was sent

To some red army town

Served out his time

Became a circus clown

The greatest happiness

He'd ever found

Was making Russian children glad

When children lived in Leningrad

The children lived in Levittown

Hid in the shelters underground

Till the Soviets turned their ships around

Tore the Cuban missiles down

And in that bright October sun

We knew our childhood days were done

And I watched my friends go off to war

What do they keep on fighting for?

So my child and I came to this place

To meet him, eye to eye and face to face

He made my daughter laugh

Then we embraced

We never knew what friends we had

Until we came to Leningrad

...

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
born /bɔːrn/ A1	verb - to come into existence; to be produced
sacrifice /ˈsækrɪfaɪs/ B1	noun - an act of giving up something important for someone or something else
war /wɔːr/ A1	noun - a state of armed conflict between different countries or groups
serve /sɜːrv/ A2	verb - to work for someone or a cause
state /steɪt/ A2	noun - a nation or territory considered as an organized political community
hate /heɪt/ A1	noun - intense dislike or animosity
sad /sæd/ A1	adjective - feeling sorrow or unhappiness
blast /blæst/ B1	verb - to destroy with explosives
clown /klaʊn/ A2	noun - a performer who entertains with jokes and tricks
happiness /ˈhæpɪnɪs/ A2	noun - the state of being happy
embrace /ɪmˈbreɪs/ B1	verb - to hold someone closely in one's arms
missile /ˈmɪsaɪl/ B2	noun - a weapon that is fired and flies through the air or space
circus /ˈsɜːrkəs/ A2	noun - a traveling company of performers who put on shows of acrobats, clowns, and trained animals
drill /drɪl/ B1	noun - a practice session to prepare for a particular situation
bright /braɪt/ A2	adjective - giving out a lot of light; intelligent
parallel /ˈpærəleɪl/ B2	adjective - being an equal distance apart everywhere