"Vse idet po planu." Audio recording. By Grazhdanskaia Oborona
1
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:14,400
The key to our borders
Is broken in two
2
00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,920
And our Father Lenin
Has withered away
3
00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:23,480
He's decayed into mold
And lime blossom honey
4
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:28,520
And Perestroika goes on
And it's going to plan
5
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,920
All the dirt has turned to naked ice
6
00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,680
And everything's going to plan
7
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,400
Everything's going to plan
8
00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,840
But my destiny
Was in need of some rest
9
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,240
I promised I wouldn't play
The game of war
10
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,760
But on my army cap
A hammer, sickle, and star
11
00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,320
Such a moving sight
The hammer, sickle, and star
12
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,200
The blazing torch of hope is going out
13
00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,840
And everything's going to plan
14
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,480
Everything's going to plan
15
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,560
And they fed my wife
To the multitude
16
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,880
They pounded her chest
With the fist of the world
17
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,080
They tore at her flesh
With the freedom of nations
18
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,680
Now bury her and let her rest in peace
19
00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,440
Since everything's going to plan
20
00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,000
Everything's going to plan
21
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,720
Only Grandfather Lenin
Was a leader to us
22
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,080
Not one of the others
Is worth a damn
23
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,720
Enemies and scumbags
Every single one
24
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,080
Over this land of our fathers
A demonic snow fell
25
00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,480
I bought a copy of <i>Korea</i>
Things are good there too
26
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,840
They've got comrade Kim Il-Sung
They've got it just like us
27
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,520
I'm sure over there it's just the same
28
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,080
And everything's going to plan
29
00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,480
Everything's going to plan
30
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,280
When communism gets here
It'll be fucking great
31
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,480
It won't be that long
We just have to wait
32
00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:32,720
Everything will be for free
Everything will be a high
33
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,960
When it comes, I guess
We won't even need to die
34
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,560
I woke up in the night and realized
35
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,240
Everything's going to plan
36
00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,040
Everything's going to plan
37
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,600
Everything's going to plan
38
00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,120
Everything's going to plan
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:14,400
The key to our borders
Is broken in two
2
00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,920
And our Father Lenin
Has withered away
3
00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:23,480
He's decayed into mold
And lime blossom honey
4
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:28,520
And Perestroika goes on
And it's going to plan
5
00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,920
All the dirt has turned to naked ice
6
00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:35,680
And everything's going to plan
7
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,400
Everything's going to plan
8
00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,840
But my destiny
Was in need of some rest
9
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:51,240
I promised I wouldn't play
The game of war
10
00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:55,760
But on my army cap
A hammer, sickle, and star
11
00:00:55,920 --> 00:01:00,320
Such a moving sight
The hammer, sickle, and star
12
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,200
The blazing torch of hope is going out
13
00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:07,840
And everything's going to plan
14
00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,480
Everything's going to plan
15
00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:18,560
And they fed my wife
To the multitude
16
00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,880
They pounded her chest
With the fist of the world
17
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:27,080
They tore at her flesh
With the freedom of nations
18
00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:30,680
Now bury her and let her rest in peace
19
00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:34,440
Since everything's going to plan
20
00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,000
Everything's going to plan
21
00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:44,720
Only Grandfather Lenin
Was a leader to us
22
00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:49,080
Not one of the others
Is worth a damn
23
00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,720
Enemies and scumbags
Every single one
24
00:01:53,880 --> 00:01:58,080
Over this land of our fathers
A demonic snow fell
25
00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,480
I bought a copy of <i>Korea</i>
Things are good there too
26
00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:06,840
They've got comrade Kim Il-Sung
They've got it just like us
27
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,520
I'm sure over there it's just the same
28
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:14,080
And everything's going to plan
29
00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,480
Everything's going to plan
30
00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:24,280
When communism gets here
It'll be fucking great
31
00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,480
It won't be that long
We just have to wait
32
00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:32,720
Everything will be for free
Everything will be a high
33
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:36,960
When it comes, I guess
We won't even need to die
34
00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:40,560
I woke up in the night and realized
35
00:02:40,720 --> 00:02:44,240
Everything's going to plan
36
00:02:44,920 --> 00:02:48,040
Everything's going to plan
37
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:52,600
Everything's going to plan
38
00:02:53,360 --> 00:02:57,120
Everything's going to plan
Written by lead singer Yegor Letov (1964-2008), the 16th track on Grazhdanskaya Oborona's self-titled 1988 punk-rock album is probably the band’s best-known composition, and has been performed and re-recorded many times. Its lyrics, especially the refrain, have entered common speech, becoming a catchphrase during the late-Soviet and post-Soviet periods. The song’s content also signals Soviet punk’s rejection of Soviet pop rock’s generally apolitical or anti-ideological stance, commenting directly on the Soviet and communist system and challenging its fundamental facets and established figures.
The ironic reference to “Grandpa” Vladimir Lenin as a “good leader,” while “the others were such shit” (Odin lish dedushka Lenin khoroshii byl vozhd’/ A vse drugie ostal’nye—takoe der’mo) ridicules the post-Stalin Soviet order, which re-canonized Lenin to distract from the darker chapters of early Soviet history. The song’s speaker goes on to suggest that the USSR and North Korea have similar (equally “good”) governmental models: “I bought the magazine Korea—it’s good there, too / They have comrade Kim Il-sung / It’s the same as it is here” (Ia kupil zhurnal Koreia. Tam tozhe khorosho/ Tam tovarishch Kim Ir Sen, tam to zhe, chto u nas). Perhaps the most striking stanza in the song, however, is the one that Letov allegedly borrowed from an anecdote by thepersecuted early Soviet writer Andrei Platonov (1899-1951), who ahd spent time interviewing peasants in the Russian countryside shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution. There, locals reportedly told him that communism had promised an ultimate triumph over death—and yet, after one elderly man died, the entire village realized something wasn’t right with this prophecy. In interviews, Letov has maintained that this story inspired the following stanza:
And in communism everything will be fucking great,
It will come soon, you just need to wait,
Everything will be free, everything will be groovy,
And quite possibly no one will even have to die.
A pri kommunizme vse budet zaebis’,
On nastupit skoro, nado tol’ko zhdat’,
Tam vse budet besplatno, tam vse budet v kaif,
Tam navernoe voobshche ne nado budet umirat’
Despite these seemingly unequivocal anti-Soviet jabs, the song remains ideologically ambiguous. Following the late-Soviet aesthetic of stiob, in which the line between irony and sincerity is deliberately blurred, the song can be read as both an admonishment to the Soviet system, and as an elegy for its ideological promise, then being actively dismantled by perestroika-era reforms. If nothing else, “Everything is Going According to Plan” cemented the musical and ideological influence of both Yegor Letov and his band, marking the punk genre’s departure from the established norm of avoiding politically charged lyrics.