In his song, Butusov bids farewell to the America of westerns, Fenimore Cooper and Tom Sawyer

Have you ever wondered why, in that legendary song, Butusov bids farewell to America? And an America, moreover, where he has never been?

He is not saying goodbye to the United States with its Statue of Liberty, or to the skyscrapers of New York.

In fact the poet is taking leave of the America of Westerns and cowboys, the America of Fenimore Cooper and the Indians, the America of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, where, naturally, he has never been. And he has understood that he never will be. For all of it turns out to be a childhood illusion about a country that does not exist in reality.

And so

When all the songs fall silent,
The ones I do not know,
In the tart air will cry out
My last paper steamship.
Goodbye, America, oh,
Where I have never been.
Farewell for ever,
Take up the banjo,
Play me something as I go.

Literal translation

Illustrations by Mikolaj Andriolli, 1885