Contents
It is not for nothing that Alla Pugacheva has been called the Prima Donna of Russian pop music in our country for several decades now. She is rightfully considered the number one Soviet and Russian singer. Her songs are known to people of all ages and musical preferences.
Alla once collaborated with the most talented composers and songwriters, who considered it an honor to create musical masterpieces specifically for her unique voice.
We offer to recall the list of the 10 most popular songs of Alla Pugacheva.
This song was first performed in 1976. She was included in the singer’s famous concert program called “The Woman Who Sings.” This hit became the laureate of the All-Union Television Festival of the Soviet Song “Song-77”.
Interesting fact: according to the results of a sociological survey conducted in 2015, lyrics “Not renounce loving…” took the 36th position in the hundred most popular poetic lines in our country.
9. Dropout wizard
Now, few people remember the film “Brave Shirak”, created at the film studio “Tajikfilm”. But in this film Pugacheva sang the song “Wizard-half-educated”.
Interesting fact: sweet disclaimer “Yes-arom… Oh!” was not the intention of the author. It’s just that the composer decided to add one more measure to the chorus, so Pugacheva made a mistake and entered ahead of time. However, this seemed to the author a very nice touch (it seems that the wizard is so mediocre that he doesn’t even get in time).
As a result, this frivolous children’s song has become a real hit among both children and adults.
8. Wow…
This song was one of the first that Vladimir Kuzmin wrote specifically for Alla Pugacheva. Its premiere took place on the “New Year’s Blue Light” on the night of January 1, 1987.
“Wow…” immediately became a nationwide hit throughout the Soviet space. Later, Kuzmin himself admitted that the hit was written more out of “sporting interest” than for the soul. However, this creative experiment ended very successfully: stylized to Eurodisco rhythms and arranged in the vein of rock music, the song became an example of fruitful cooperation between two talented musicians, albeit working in different genres.
7. Antique clock
This song was created by two famous masters who gave Prima Donna more than one hit. Of course, we are talking about Ilya Reznik and Raymond Pauls. Composition “Antique clock” appeared in Pugacheva’s repertoire in 1981.
The song debuted in the TV show “We are visiting Maestro” in December 1981 at the creative evening of Pauls. “Old Clock” immediately became a very popular and recognizable hit of the singer.
Despite the success of the song with the public, the work on its creation did not go very smoothly. Then Ilya Reznik was visiting Raimonds Pauls in Riga. Pauls played his compositions on the piano, and the poet liked one of the melodies for its lyricism and warmth. Returning to his hotel room, Reznik wrote poems about the sea for the future song. Then there was another option, which also did not satisfy Reznik.
The version of the song, which eventually became a nationwide hit, arose thanks to the clanking grandfather clock in Pauls’s hallway. Pugacheva was satisfied with this particular option, but considered it necessary to make adjustments to the second verse.
6. call me with you
This song belongs to the authorship of the composer, poet and singer Tatyana Snezhina. The real popularity of this composition came after it was performed by Alla Pugacheva (it was included in her 1998 album “Yes!”).
After the tragic death of the young poetess, her brother sent a recording of the song “Call me with you” Alla Pugacheva, who, without hesitation, introduced her repertoire, thanks to which the composition became the winner in the Song of the Year-97 competition.
5. Harlequin
This immortal hit was written by the Bulgarian author Emila Dimitrova with lyrics by Boris Barkas. A recording from the State Television and Radio Fund of the USSR in 1964 has been preserved, in which the author of the hit performs it in Bulgarian. After 11 years, this song appeared in the repertoire of the then beginning singer Alla Pugacheva.
In 1975 the song was recorded in a studio. Then with “Harlequin” The future Primadonna was awarded the Grand Prix of the Golden Orpheus International Music Competition in Bulgaria in 1975.
This song is considered one of the most popular in the work of Alla Borisovna. It was after her performance, or rather after the release of the famous video filmed in the Moscow subway, that the young singer received popular love and recognition from her colleagues.
4. Iceberg
On New Year’s Eve 1984, in the festive TV show “New Year’s Attraction” Pugachev’s new compositions: “Tell me, birds” and “Iceberg”.
The author of these well-known hits was the then novice composer Igor Nikolaev, who at that time was a keyboard player in Pugacheva’s Recital ensemble. From that moment, a long and fruitful creative collaboration between Alla Borisovna and Nikolaev began.
The song “Iceberg” immediately became widely popular. Later, Pugacheva admitted that at that period of her life there was a man next to her, very similar to the cold iceberg she sang, who hides all her sorrows “under a black wave”.
3. Madame Broshkina
Who is this legendary Madame Broshkina? Most fans of the Primadonna’s work are sure that this heroine is nothing more than a collective image of a “broken divorcee” of Balzac’s age. Even her last name comes from the word “Abandoned”.
We can say that this respectable lady is not very old yet, but as Pugacheva herself sings “her train has left”.
2. Ferryman
The plot of the poem by Nikolai Zinoviev was based on the story of a real-life person, a ferryman named Yakov Dmitrievich Zakharov (in his poem, the poet called him Ivan Matveevich), in the difficult years after the war, ferrying children, orphans, the disabled, etc.
He, too, was a war invalid. The veteran worked at the river crossing for 27 years. When the local authorities canceled the ferry in 1975, it still carried passengers across the river by boat for a long time. Yakov Zakharov died in 1982, he was 61 years old.
First the author of the famous poem “Ferryman” emphasized the glorification of the selfless work of a common man who helps people free of charge. However, when creating the song, it was decided to focus on the love theme.
1. Million Scarlet roses
Probably, not only in our country, but throughout the entire territory of the post-Soviet space, there is no person who would not know the story of an unfortunate artist in love who sold all his property in order to cover the entire street under the window of his beloved with a million scarlet roses.
The plot that became the basis for the creation of the legendary song “Million Scarlet roses”, tells of a semi-mythical story about the amazing act of the Georgian artist Niko Pirosmani, who fell in love with the French actress Marguerite de Sevres, who in 1905 came on tour to Tiflis.
Unrequitedly in love with Pirosmani, no matter how he tried to win the love of the beauty, she remained cold to his entreaties and often did not even honor the unfortunate artist with a look.
This state of affairs plunged Niko into despair. He sometimes fell to the ground in tears to kiss the footprints of the actress. Passion on the verge of madness was not to the liking of the actress and only further increased her disgust for the fan.
But one day, several carts drove up to the hotel where Margarita lived, filled with fresh flowers. The woman appreciated such a broad gesture and passionately kissed the artist. They never saw each other again.
There is a version that the plot for the song was based on real events, however, there is no documentary evidence of this legend.