Not What You Meant? There are 22 definitions for Dark Eye.

Dark Eyes (song)

About 4 pages (1,125 words)

Know this topic well? Help others and get FREE products!

This article is about the song "Dark Eyes". For the film named after the song, see Dark Eyes (film). For other uses, see Dark Eye.

Dark Eyes (Russian: Очи чёрные, Ochi chyornye; English translation: Black Eyes) is a Russian song. The lyrics of the song derive from a poem by Yevgeniy Pavlovich Grebyonka (Russian: Евгений Павлович Гребёнка) (1812-1848), a writer born in Ukraine. The first publication of the poem was in Literaturnaya gazeta on 17 January 1843. The words were subsequently set to Florian Hermann's Valse Hommage (in an arrangement by S. Gerdel') and published as a romance on 7 March 1884. Although often characterised as a Russian gypsy song, the words and music were written respectively by a Ukrainian and a German. Feodor Chaliapin popularised the song abroad in a version amended by himself.

1 Poem (original version by Grebyonka)
2 Lyrics (Chaliapin version)
3 Popular Culture
4 See also
5 External links

Poem (original version by Grebyonka)

Russian	Transliteration	English translation
1. Очи черные, очи страстные Очи жгучие и прекрасные Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас Знать, увидел вас я в недобрый час 2. Ох, недаром вы глубины темней! Вижу траур в вас по душе моей, Вижу пламя в вас я победное: Сожжено на нем сердце бедное. 3. Но не грустен я, не печален я, Утешительна мне судьба моя: Всё, что лучшего в жизни бог дал нам, В жертву отдал я огневым глазам!	Ochi chernye ochi strastnye Ochi zhguchiye i prekrasniye Kak lyublyu ya vas kak boyus ya vas Znat' uvidyel vas ya v nedobryii chas Okh nedarom vy glubini temnyei Vizhu traur v vas po dushe moei Vizhu plamya v vas ya pobednoye Sozhzheno na nem serdtse bednoye No ne grusten ya ne pechalen ya Uteshitelna mnye sudba moya Vsyo chto luchshyevo v zhizni bog dal nam V zhertvu otdal ya ognevym glazam	Dark eyes, passionate eyes Burning and splendid eyes How I love you, how I fear you Verily, I espied you in an ill-starred moment Oh, not for nothing are you darker than the deep! I see mourning for my soul in you, I see a triumphant flame in you: A poor heart immolated in it. But I am not sad, I am not sorrowful, My fate is soothing to me: All that is of the best God has given us, As a sacrifice I have given up to the fiery eyes!

Lyrics (Chaliapin version)

Russian (Cyrillic alphabet)	Transliteration (Romanized version)	English translation
Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Очи чёрные, очи пламенны И монят они в страны дальные, Где царит любовь, где царит покой, Где страданья нет, где вражды запрет. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час. Не встречал бы вас, не страдал бы так, Я бы прожил жизнь улыбаючись, Вы сгубили меня очи черные Унесли на век моё счастье. Очи чёрные, очи жгучие, Очи страстные и прекрасные, Как люблю я вас, как боюсь я вас, Знать увидел вас я не в добрый час.	Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ochi chyornye, ochi plamenny I monyat oni v strany dal'nye Gde tsarit lyubov', gde tsarit pokoi Gde stradan'ya nyet, gde vrazhdy zapryet Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas Ne vstrechal by vas, ne stradal by tak Ya by prozhil zhizn' ulybayuchis' Vy zgubili menya ochi chyornye Unesli na vek moyo schast'ye Ochi chyornye, ochi zhguchie Ochi strastnye i prekrasnye Kak lyublyu ya vas, kak boyus' ya vas Znat' uvidel vas ya ne v dobryi chas	Dark eyes, burning eyes Frightful and beautiful eyes I love you so, I fear you so For sure I've seen you at a sinister hour Dark eyes, flaming eyes They implore me into faraway lands Where love reigns, where peace reigns Where there is no suffering, where war is forbidden Dark eyes, burning eyes Frightful and beautiful eyes I love you so, I fear you so For sure I've seen you at a sinister hour Without meeting you, I wouldn't be suffering so I would have lived my life smiling You have ruined me, dark eyes You have taken my happiness forever away Dark eyes, burning eyes Frightful and beautiful eyes I love you so, I fear you so For sure I've seen you at a sinister hour

Translation by Katya from russmus.net ([1]) Link to the song ([2])

Popular Culture

The song is performed in a scene of the 2007 David Cronenberg film Eastern Promises by a singer and accordion player Igor Outkine.
The song gives its name to Nikita Mikhalkov's film Dark Eyes (1987).
American figure skater Sasha Cohen used this song for her short program at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
The Warner Bros. cartoon Falling Hare (1943) used this song in a scene where Bugs Bunny unsuccessfully tries to break down an airplane door (while the airplane was in the air and running) in order to find the Gremlin who has been continuously taunting him.
The computer adventure game Syberia featured the chorus of the song in the last part of the game.
Louis Armstrong did a version called "Otchi-Tchor-Ni-Ya", which in his unique New Orleans Creole patois sounded like "Oh Cha Chunya". The words were quite different from the proper translation of the song from Russian to English.
Wingy Manone, trumpeter, and Edmond Hall, both from New Orleans, recorded a version of Dark Eyes in 1947. Edmond Hall's clarinet-solo is a classic and Wingy Manone sang a humorous nonsense-vocal:

Ochi chornya, Arizonia Hold the phone-ya, California Oh, Caldonia, I'm so alone-ya I wanna own ya. Won't you be mine?

"Natalie" sung by Julio Iglesias is a version of this song.
It is mentioned frequently in the movie The Shop Around the Corner with Jimmy Stewart.
In W.C. Fields' film Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, Gloria Jean sang this song in a scene where she finally finds her Uncle Bill (played by W.C. Fields) in Russia after he jumped out of the airplane that they were taking to retrieve his bottle of alcohol.