Composer Vladimir Migulya and his greatest success

"Grass by the house." - This is the name of a famous Soviet hit, the anthem of Russian cosmonautics, which continues to inspire people all over the world after many decades! This song was first performed as part of the TV programme "Earth's Attraction" on Cosmonautics Day, 12 April 1982.The song was performed by Soviet and Russian musician, singer and composer Vladimir Migulya. However, the song did not become a hit immediately: it took time for "Grass by the House" to gain popularity. And the song became famous when performed by the band "Earthlings.". Today "Grass by the House" is a visiting card of the domestic rock collective. We offer to remember its history together!

Why "Grass by the House?" Writing process and inspiration

The idea for the song comes from Vladimir Georgievich. Exactly Migulya was inspired to write a composition that would reflect not only the heroism of the cosmonauts, but also all the hardship of their work, sadness and homesickness. The history of "Grass by the House" dates back to 1981: it was then that the twentieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first flight into space was widely celebrated! It is worth noting that they had sung about space before: "You know what kind of bloke he was." (Alexandra Pakhmutova and Nikolai Dobronravov), "Fourteen minutes to go." (Oskar Feltsman and Vladimir Voinovich) and other compositions. However, all these works were, in Miguli's opinion, "not quite the same": they glorified the heroism of cosmonauts, but by the early 80s, flights into orbit were perceived more as hard work than as a feat. Undoubtedly, the Soviet people were proud of the successes of space explorers, but they were no longer particularly surprised by them. For this reason, Migulya decided to compose a song that would reflect the cosmonauts' approach to their work.

Together with the poet Anatoly Poperechny Migulya began to think how to play with this theme. A composition from Poperechny's poem of the same name was born: of course, there was no mention of cosmonauts, but there were very warm lines about a hut, a cow and, of course, the grass by the house. It was from this that Migulya recommended his colleague to start from. He explained his vision as follows:

"The grass by the house is exactly the image that occurs in astronauts' minds when they are away from their families."

When the poems were ready, Migulya wrote a tune pretty quickly. Originally. "Grass by the house." was a classic pop lyric, but very soon the group "Zemlyane" would turn it into a loud rock song!

The Earthlings' version

"Earthlings." were one of the few things allowed in the USSR rock bands. When working on the song, the band used a heavier, rockier arrangement. As a result, they managed to create a very bright and dynamic hit, which soon became a real anthem!

https://youtu.be/gnqXfK-ESoY

At first. Migulya was sceptical about the Zemlyans' version. But very soon he changed his opinion, because the song became fantastically popular! As the leader of the band said Vladimir KiselevBefore recording the anthem of Russian cosmonautics, the Zemlyane were inspired by a Cliff Richard concert.

Recognition

Astronauts quickly fell in love with this song! The recordings of "Grass" were taken with them into orbit, and now, many years later, this tradition is still alive.

https://youtu.be/01D810SF4Ks

The popularity of the song was also actively spread on television. At first, "Grass by the House" performed by Zemlyans was heard in the 14th episode of the cartoon film "Well, wait a minute!"and then, at the end of the decade, in the cult film by Karen Shakhnazarov. "The Courier."!

https://youtu.be/WC2OVGN-KKs

Inna Churikova's performance the composition turned into a real folklore ballad.

Interesting covers

Since the release of this hit song, there have been many covers of it - successful and not so successful. We will tell you about the most successful and interesting ones (although the original is unlikely to be surpassed by anyone).

Popular modern versions of the hit include covers by the bands "Beasts." и "The Adventures of the Electroniks.".

One of the most interesting versions was the performance of the anthem in 2016, in a clip dedicated to the 55th anniversary of Gagarin's flight into space! Many Russian stars took part in the project, including Lev Leshchenko, Lolita and Yulianna Karaulova!

In the spring of 2020, information about a Japanese version of the song surfaced. In the Network even appeared a clip with a superimposed face Ilona Maskto which the leader of the Zemlyans, Sergei Skachkov, took a very positive attitude.

https://youtu.be/1OlHj9422Dc

Facts about the song

• The song can often be heard in advertising: for a while it was used in commercials "Megaphone."!
• "Grass by the House" has overtaken in popularity its predecessors such as. "We are the children of the Galaxy...", "He said go...". and other space-themed compositions.

• In 2009, the hit was given official public status "The Hymn of Russian Cosmonautics."!
• Some have suggested that the melody of "Grass" was borrowed from ABBA. - about the song "The Day Before You Came".

• The most views of a performance of this hit song on YouTube is. 20 million!