The meaning of the lyrics of the song "Zodiac signs" (Znaki zodiaka) the performer of the song "Vladimir Vysotsky"

It’s a lie, above us there is no abyss, no gloom

No catalogue of rewards and retributions

We admire the night Zodiac’s bloom

The eternal tango of the constellations

We gaze, heads thrown back, heads thrown back

Into silence, mystery, and eternity

There, the trajectories of fates and our fleeting epoch

Are marked by invisible milestones

That can protect and keep us safe

Hot nectar in the cold of February

Like sweet oil instead of a thunderstorm

Aquarius, the eccentric, pours stellar water

Into Capricorn's bottomless maw

The universal stream, so winding and steep, so winding and steep

Colored now with mercury, now with blood

But, breaking free from March's gloomy chains

Powerful Pisces swim tirelessly upward

Through Milky Way streams to the headwaters

December's Sagittarius has finally shot his bolt

He's exhausted, his arrows broken

And Taurus can frolic without fear

In the bright glades of May

Leo, starved from August, starved from August

Gazes at Aries in April

Raising their hands to Gemini in June

The tenderest maidens of the Virgo constellation

Have transformed the Libra scales into a swing

Rays of light pierce the darkness

Like Ariadne's thread, concrete and clear

And yet Scorpio and the mysterious Cancer

Are distant and harmless to us

Man did not grumble at his Zodiac, man did not grumble

For what do stars care about disgrace?

He brought these constellations down from the heavens

He set them in noble metal

And the mystery became accessible

Неправда, над нами не бездна, не мрак

Каталог наград и возмездий

Любуемся мы на ночной Зодиак

На вечное танго созвездий

Глядим, запрокинули головы вверх, головы вверх

В безмолвие, тайну и вечность

Там трассы судеб и мгновенный наш век

Отмечены в виде невидимых вех

Что могут хранить и беречь нас

Горячий нектар в холода февралей

Как сладкий елей вместо грога

Льет звездную воду чудак Водолей

В бездонную пасть Козерога

Вселенский поток и извилист и крут, извилист и крут

Окрашен то ртутью, то кровью

Но, вырвавшись с мартовской мглою из пут

Могучие Рыбы на нерест плывут

По Млечным потокам к верховью

Декабрьский Стрелец отстрелялся вконец

Он мается, копья ломая

И может без страха резвиться Телец

На светлых урочищах мая

Из августа изголодавшийся Лев, изголодавшийся Лев

Глядит на Овена в апреле

В июнь, к Близнецам свои руки воздев

Нежнейшие девы созвездия Дев

Весы превратили в качели

Лучи световые пробились сквозь мрак

Как нить Ариадны, конкретны

Но и Скорпион, и таинственный Рак

От нас далеки и безвредны

На свой Зодиак человек не роптал, человек не роптал

Да звездам страшна ли опала?

Он эти созвездия с неба достал

Оправил он их в благородный металл

И тайна доступною стала

Vladimir Vysotsky's song "Signs of the Zodiac" encodes a reflection on human destiny, on the interplay between fate and free will.

The author begins by refuting fatalism: "It's not true, above us is not an abyss, not darkness." He disagrees that some merciless predestination ("a catalog of rewards and retributions") reigns over man.

Instead, Vysotsky suggests looking at the "night Zodiac" as a metaphor for the eternal, yet beautiful dance of the constellations. Looking at the stars, a person touches "silence, mystery and eternity." The trajectories of fate, our "instantaneous age," are woven into this cosmic dance. The stars act as keepers of destinies, albeit "in the form of invisible milestones."

This is followed by a description of the interaction of the signs of the zodiac, which can be interpreted as an allegory of a person's life path, full of trials and contrasts.

The "hot nectar" of Aquarius is replaced by the "cold of February." The "universal flow", "now with mercury, now with blood", symbolizes the variability of fate. But even having escaped from the "March gloom", a person, like "mighty Pisces", continues his journey "along the Milky Ways upstream."

Vysotsky draws parallels between the characteristics of the signs of the zodiac and life's vicissitudes. "December Sagittarius" has completed his journey ("shot himself to the end"), "Taurus" enjoys life ("frolics") in the "bright lands of May", and the "hungry Leo" looks to the future with hope ("at Aries in April").

The finale of the song takes on an ironic connotation. Man, striving to subdue the mystery, "got" the constellations from heaven, turning them into "noble metal." However, the available mystery loses its attractiveness, its depth.

Thus, the song "Signs of the Zodiac" is a reflection on the place of man in the Universe, on his desire to know the secrets of the universe, without losing faith in his own strength and ability to influence his own destiny.