Who does the song "I'm ready to kiss the sand" actually belong to?

"I'm ready to kiss the sand..." - most listeners associate this song with the name of Vladimir Markin. After the musician performed the composition on the air of "Morning Post", it became a thundering hit! However, if other sources are to be believed, the widely celebrated song belongs to another person...

Back in the 70s of that century, a song with a romanticised message was allegedly performed by a talented and popular singer of that time, Polad Bulbul oglu. Unfortunately, it was not possible to find a recording performed by this musician... Therefore, we cannot say that he was the first to perform "I am ready to kiss the sand...". - we can't say. As a matter of fact, neither can we deny it.

Versions of the song's origin

In the so-called "backyard" folklore of the second half of the last century it is difficult to find the real authors... Often such songs lack both original and "final" versions... That is why even after a work is released on disc, various versions of it continue to appear actively!

Thus, part of the verse of Markin's publicised song about sand can be found in a poem by Igor Kobzev (from the book "Moscow May")

And the clingy refrain was apparently borrowed from poet Vladimir Pavlinov's "Memory" (1965).

It is unfair not to mention the editor Marta Mogilevskaya! It was her hand that completed one of the verses of the famous hit....

You could say the song was put together piece by piece. But how did it become popular? That's another question...

So how did Markin make a backyard song a hit?

In 1986, Markin was given the task of preparing a student edition of the then popular musical programme Morning Mail. Behind him was video filming and meeting important guests... But most importantly, he got a chance to demonstrate his own number!

When Vladimir Nikolayevich sang the song chosen for the broadcast to the film crew, they laughed heartily at him. However, no one discouraged. Markin's number was perceived, rather, as a joke: well, how can some neighbourhood song can compete with the classic pop! However, the performer himself was absolutely sure of his choice... Few people know, but from his youth Markin listened to the lyrics of his neighbourhood... What's more, he recorded them!

In one of his interviews Vladimir Markin said:

"Since childhood, I had a hobby: I collected so-called yard songs. Sometimes I would ask my mates if they remembered this or that song... And if they did, they would immediately sing it with pleasure! That's how I got a whole notebook of records..."

After the programme was released, the popularity of the forgotten song skyrocketed, as did the popularity of Markin himself! Everyone was talking about his performance... Some remembered singing something similar in pioneer camps, others laughed at the wrong note in the word "kiss":

"It was done on purpose, I wanted to get the audience excited! But nobody seemed to realise it... I jump on stage as if and see that the audience are not laughing... They are crying. They perceived this number completely differently from the way it was planned..."

Today, when going on stage, Markin no longer parodies a teenager with a guitar... His songs sound thoughtful and serious, and they are usually accompanied by a whole orchestra! But this does not apply to the legendary hit about sand... Markin prefers to play this song alone, thus preserving the feeling of neighbourhood folklore....