Quote Originally Posted by Nuraa View Post
Еще одна отчаянная попытка перевода. На сей раз издевалась я над песней Барон фон дер Пшик

Барон фон дер Пшик
Покушать русский шпик
This one definitely has some words ("шпик" and "пшик") and phrases ("Под клюквою развесистой") that are difficult to translate into colloquial-sounding English for a general American audience.

So, I took some liberties with the changes suggested in blue.

Baron von der Shmuck
Was dreaming and planning
For a long time to try our Russian-style bacon

He loved to look swank
Wasn't a modest person
Yelled about his derring-do in advance

He yelled on the radio
That he is in Leningrad
Like he is at a parade

And he's eating Russian bacon
That he eats and drinks ,
And a guy "in roosky peasant drag"
Brings out his bacon.

Baron von der Shmuck
Forgot about the Russian bayonet
But our bayonets haven't forgotten
How to stick barons!

And brave von der Shmuck
Was hit by a Russian bayonet
Now HE'S "Bacon-on-a-stick, à la kraut"!

His uniform's badly torn,
The swastika is broken!
Go ahead, mein Herr -- have a seat
On a Russian bayonet!

Baron von der Shmuck,
Well, where is your former swank?
What's left of the Baron?
Only "zilch" -- Kaput!

Because "фон дер Пшик" is meant to be a joke-name, I changed it to "von der Shmuck," although "von der Zilch" or "von der Putz" also sound appropriate.

In some regions of the States, we do use "шпик" or "сало" in cooking -- it's usually called "fatback". However, most Americans aren't familiar with шпик/сало/"fatback" as a dish by itself. So I changed it to "Russian bacon," because everyone knows what "bacon" is.

And "мужик под клюквою развесистой" is a very idiomatic phrase, of course, so it can't be translated literally. Here it basically means "a guy who looked and dressed like the German Baron's stereotypical idea of a Russian." So to translate it for an American audience, I would suggest "in peasant drag" or "decked out in roosky togs", or something like that. (Note, by the way, that "in [XYZ] drag" is simply a slangy way of saying "in a costume of [XYZ] type," or "wearing clothes typical of people from [XYZ]-stan, etc.", and does NOT imply трансвестизм -- although the phrase "drag queen" is, of course, connected to the use of "drag" as slang for "costume.")

Although the imperative влазьте-ка literally means "climb on," I thought that "go ahead, sir, have a seat" better conveys the mock-politeness of the Russian here.