The Story of a Song: "Where the Maple Trees Make Noise," a hit that waited 16 years

"Where the Maples Make Noise." - There's not a person in our country who doesn't know this song! But it appeared quite by accident - from a poem. It underwent changes, made a rich journey from performer to performer ... And today it is widely known and warmly loved thanks to the ensemble "Blue bird". In total, it took the legendary lines 16 years to wait for their moment of stardom!

But even the recording of the song was completely accidentally - Yes, yes, if it were not for a fortunate (for you and me, listeners) set of circumstances, it might not exist. And it's scary to imagine how many great songs has faded into oblivion only because their birth was not accompanied by luck itself - as in the case of "Maple"!

An amazing journey of legendary lines

Today they call it a timeless work, a classic, a masterpiece... For Soviet youth it was favorite "medley" at discos, and for older listeners it's a pleasant, beautiful song that brings back a lot of thoughts... But the story of the legendary "Maple." The song started long before it became a hit. And in the beginning of its way the hit song was just a poem - it belonged to the Leningrad poet Leonty Shishko. The narrative was told from a woman's face, and instead of the usual three we are accustomed to, there were four verse.

Leontius himself composed first arrangement for "Maple" - of course, it was different from the one that was so beloved by the public. But it was also very worthy. The composition was performed in this form Lyudmila Zykina - Many people remember her from the movie "When the Song Never Ends." 1964.

Surprisingly, this version was still a hit. did not become. What would have been the fate of "Maple" next? Would the song have gone to the people, or would it have fallen into oblivion? You and I can only guess and rejoice that in the distant 1973 I decided to write my own arrangement Yuri Akulov, composer and guitarist VIA "Kalinka"! And this is what he got:

This version, too, went virtually unnoticed by the public... But thanks to the fact that it was noticed by the Mikhail Bolotnywe have a great romantic hit! Here's what happened...

A version of "Maple" by VIA "The Blue Bird"

One of the founders of VIA "Blue Bird"Mikhail Bolotnyi first discovered this song at a "Kalinka" concert. Not that he liked the song very much... But he considered it interesting and beautiful, so he decided to include it in the repertoire of his ensemble. But that is not the most interesting thing in this story.

Recorded "Maple" was absolutely accidentally! At about the same time, work on the first minion The band recorded four songs, but luckily there was still time for one more. Of course, we could have recorded nothing. But who knows, what if the Artistic Committee rejected a composition? No one dared to take such a risk and waste precious time. That's why Bolotny remembered "Maple", which was recorded in less than half an hour! And a great song came out, which you can listen to now!

According to the recollections of the participants of those events, the vocalist Sergey Drozdov accomplished the task in just 20 minutes! Sergey Alexandrovich not only sang the hit song, he also equipped it with an awesome guitar passage in the style of The Beatles! It was fantastic - a little more pressure and drive, and a full-fledged rock ballad is ready.

Rampant success

The musicians are really there for a reason. reinsured - One composition was nevertheless rejected by the Art Council: "We are addicted to love.". And so, "Maple" takes its place on the mixtape, and very quickly becomes an all-union hit! By confession of the band members, they did not expect anything like that, only as a reserve song. Though - in most cases, in this way, accidentally and in a hurry, the history of many hits starts.

Listen to the very same song "Where the Maple Noises" performed live:

The success of the song was so rabidthat it was literally coming from everywhere-even on the street they were singing it! One could listen to it endlessly. Some people do it even now. But more about how it used to be is below.

Interesting to know

• In his interview Robert Swampy recalled: "We were performing in Kaluga at the time. So I went to a restaurant after the concert to have dinner. They ordered "Maple" eighteen times in front of me! I specifically counted!". But that's not the end of stories about the crazy popularity of the occasional hit: "And there was a case in Izhevsk. I was resting in my room - I had a terrible headache. And I hear some noise from the street. I looked out the window, and there was a crowd that couldn't get enough of it! All singing in one voice: "Where the maple tree rustles on the river wave..." How did that make me feel? Well, words can't describe it... It's a miracle!"
• Regarding Zykina's versionThere is a very curious legend that this song was not to his liking. To Leonid Brezhnev! That's why it was excluded from the repertoire of the popular favorite. But this is just a rumor without any confirmation.
• When the recording was finished, none of the musicians could have imagined what lay ahead of them! After all, they had just recorded timeless schlager! From the memories of Robert Aronovich: "What hit? We didn't even think of that! It took Sergei about 20 minutes to do the song. Ryzhikov looked at him surprised and said: "You're really something, Sinatra!" And then we went to celebrate in a steamboat restaurant by the Udarnik movie theater.