tragos:

If one were to be mired in highly thanatotic work requiring little thought but much endurance, what song would most effectively restore the fortitude and pliancy of one’s soul?

song of the volga boatmen [performance by the russian red army choir, 1965. be sure to turn on the captions]. it’s what huge teams of russians would sing as they trudged for miles up the banks of the volga hauling barges against the current by their five inch diameter mooring lines. it’s also my favorite of the songs we learned back when i took russian in high school (the only things i can effectively say in russian these days: “my name is bread”, “i love eelpout”).