Thread: всё думал – видней наверху

Hello!

From Олег Митяев's Мой Отец:

Очень рано отца хоронили...
Очень много, казалось ему,
Мы неправды тогда говорили,
Да всё думал – видней наверху,
Верил Сталину, верил Хрущёву,
Верил, верил, работал и пил...
Full lyrics here

Could you please help me with with translation of the 4th line, particularly with the word видней?

Many thanks.

"Да" introduction particle. In this case it can be traslated as "And..." or just omitted.
"всё" before verb can be translated as "all the time". That is action of verb lasts long period of time.
"думал"="thought"
"видней" literally = "to have better view". second meaning "to have better knowledge of situation".
"наверху" literally = "on the top". in this context meaning is "upper levels of governance/authority". boss/director/minister/president and so on.

That is "But he thought all the time that government knows better what to do".

Thank you very much.

So am I right in thinking that видней is the comparative for видный? If yes, what's the difference between видней and виднее?

"what's the difference between видней and виднее?"
no difference

By the way, it could be tricky for non-native to understand what is "неправду говорили" about and relation of it to "виднее наверху".
Some time after death of Stalin he was widely criticized by next soviet government as tyrant. Term 'cult of Stalin' was born.
So, these lines are about his rejection to perceive Stalin as tyrant, however, 'government knows better', so, he didn't disputed it actively.

Thanks a lot for this! Now it all makes much more sense!

Originally Posted by Alex80

By the way, it could be tricky for non-native to understand what is "неправду говорили"...

Just one more thing, what's the difference between неправду говорили and неправды говорили, please? Неправду is the form I found in my dictionary: говорить неправду — tell a lie, tell lies. I'd say it's the accusative for неправда. Неправды, on the other hand though, is what I could find on the lyrics websites that I checked.

"difference between неправду говорили and неправды говорили"

It's just grammatical case.

Originally Posted by Alex80

"difference between неправду говорили and неправды говорили"

It's just grammatical case.

Hmm... I'm not so sure about that. I mean the latter is more like telling lies over and over again Although, the former can and probably should be viewed as telling lies in that manner, not just once. All in all, the one with plural неправды makes it more defined and colorful in my opinion.

"сказал что? - неправду."
"сказал много чего? - неправды".

Originally Posted by Alex80

"сказал что? - неправду."
"сказал много чего? - неправды".

Yeah, my fault

"..Мы неправды тогда говорили,..."
In this case неправды is not the genitive of неправдa, but the plural of this word. I don't know whether it is a dictionary-word or Митяев invented it himself, but the poet means неправды=a lot of неправдa.

There is much irony and sarcasm in Митяев's songs, so don't take his lyrics litteraly.

Originally Posted by blind pew

"..Мы неправды тогда говорили,..."
In this case неправды is not the genitive of неправдa, but the plural of this word. I don't know whether it is a dictionary-word or Митяев invented it himself, but the poet means неправды=a lot of неправдa.

There is much irony and sarcasm in Митяев's songs, so don't take his lyrics litteraly.

Очень много, казалось, ему
Мы неправды тогда говорили

Glad to see I wasn't the only one to make this mistake

Sorry, I was wrong . I have not read the whole sentence. Of course it is "много неправды".