The meaning of the lyrics of the song "On former Novaya" (Na byivschey Novoy) the performer of the song "Mikhail Krug"

It's snowing on what used to be Novaya Street, the entrance door is buried in snow,

No footprints, just midnight darkness, as if everything here died out long ago.

But again, they'll trample a path, step by step, those who walk alone and those who are led.

And as the prophetic poet said: "The people's trails will not be overgrown here."

It would be better if he were wrong - no big deal, but what difference would a couple of quotes make?

He sometimes raved at the muse's will, those who raved at will here are now in jail.

He walked across Lenin Square with a bottle, and the stench - someone must have puked this morning...

A street cleaner drove by - that's not good, I almost suspected Lenin himself!

And the years grind everything that was: the girl who was a school leader,

Now brings bottles in the morning to collect the deposit.

Life scattered the friends of youth, some to Chechnya, some taken by Afghanistan,

Some to prison, some to the bottom of a glass, and some were trapped by drugs.

We love our girlfriends for only one night and don't recognize our first wives,

And a daughter calls her dad "daddy," and he lives, licked by his cat.

And wives - they don't wash, they don't do laundry. Cars, clothes, money on their minds...

A streetwalker is cheaper, and in bed - there's no difference!

So, it's snowing on what used to be Novaya Street. Tverskaya has already quieted down by sunset.

It's already midnight, and sunsets don't chime, what do they all care about me?

I'm late for a drink today, will no one really pick me up here?

No, a "funnel" pulled up around the corner, now it will take me to the "truth."

Some girl on Tverskaya is calling for Starovorobyevskaya...

На бывшей Новой нынче снегопад, и дверь на входе снегом замело,

И нет следов, один полночный мрак, как будто здесь давно всё вымерло.

Но заново протопчат след во след кто сам идёт и те, кого ведут.

И как сказал пророческий поэт: "Народа тропы здесь не зарастут."

Пусть лучше б он ошибся - не беда, но что изменит парочка цитат?

Он бредил волей музы иногда, у нас кто бредил волей - те сидят.

С бутылкой площадь Ленина прошёл, и вонь такая - кто-то с утреча...

Проехал золотарь - нехорошо, а я уж заподозрил Ильича!

А годы всё, что было, перетрут: девчонка в школе старостой была,

Сегодня в стеклотару поутру чтоб накатить, бутылки принесла.

Жизнь разбросала юности друзей, кого в Чечню, кого забрал Афган,

Кого в тюрьму, кому в стакан долей, а кто-то к наркоте попал в капкан.

Подруг мы любим только одну ночь и первых своих жён не узнаём,

И называет тятю папой дочь, и он живёт, нализанный котом.

И жёны - ни помыть, ни постирать. Машины, шмотки, деньги на уме...

Дешевле выйдет уличная блядь, а что в кровати - там различий нет!

Итак, на бывшей Новой снегопад. Тверской уже затих к закату дня.

Уж полночь, и закаты не звенят, какое им всем дело до меня?

Я припозднился нынче с посошком, неужто здесь никто не подберёт?

Нет, "воронок" подъехал за углом, сейчас квартал до "правды" довезёт.

Какая-то девчонка на Тверской на Староворобьёвскую зовёт...

In his song "Na byvshey Novoi" (On the Former Novaya Street), Mikhail Krug paints a bleak picture of life in Russia during the 1990s. Using the imagery of a snow-covered street, the author speaks about the devastation that reigns both in society and in the souls of people.

The lines "And there are no tracks, only midnight darkness, as if everything here died out long ago" create an atmosphere of hopelessness and desolation. The words of the prophetic poet about "people's paths not overgrowing here" sound like bitter irony. People's lives have lost their bearings, and even faith in a better future seems naive.

Further, Krug lists the tragic fates of his contemporaries: the wars in Chechnya and Afghanistan, prisons, alcoholism, drug addiction. Families are destroyed, moral values are lost: "We love our girlfriends for only one night and don't recognize our first wives."

In the final verse, the lyrical hero, tired and lost, finds himself in a "voronok" (police van), which takes him to the "truth" – possibly to the police station or to another low point in his life.

"Na byvshey Novoi" is not just a song, it is a cry from the soul, reflecting the pain and disappointment of an entire generation.