This is one of my favourite songs, and I've studied hard to try and determine a meaning in English, but there seems to be a lot of metaphor and perhaps cultural references involved that I struggle to understand. Nonetheless, for any other English passers by who are interested in my attempt at deconstructing the meaning, here you go: From what I gather, and from my very rudimentary understanding of Russian, the song is about the rough life of a young hooligan who loathes his destructive and disorderly way of life, yet resigns to it believing it's in his nature and that there is no better way for a poor and helpless person like him to live. He envies the working men for being hard-working and virtuous, though simultaneously despises them for their lack of empathy towards his situation, assuming him an incorrigible criminal without consideration for his humanity - continuing his bad habits without remedy out of helplessness and a sense of rebellion. It reads like a tale of cognitive dissonance and angst. The hooligan seems frustrated with his situation because he knows his lifestyle is wrong, yet was never raised to know what "right" was. I believe the hooligan is a teenager with a troubled home life who tries to find the affirmation and sense of belonging in petty crime and street gangs that he lacks from his poor and possibly fractured family, something I understand is quite common in a lot of the low income areas of eastern Europe. I believe it's a tale of juvenile delinquency, the moral being to give young hooligans like this the chance to thrive by showing them pity and providing guidance instead of branding them criminals and ostracizing them from society. 0:00-1:24 The hooligan reflects on himself - he is lonely, poor, and hates society for treating him like garbage "Я безбожник и бездельник, Хулиган, каких не будет" - "I am an atheist and a slacker, a hooligan like no other". People taunt him as a worthless vagrant, and while he hates the things they are saying he can't help but agree. In somewhat of a self-flagellating move, he says his life is worthless "Жизнь моя не стоит цента" - yet retorts with anger by pleading "It's worth more than that!", "Оттого она дороже". To note is that the people shouting agree with his self-deprecation, yet when he begs for their pity they break the cadence by taunting him further. 1:24-1:40 Yet he seems to envy their success and understands their reasons for ostracizing him, as he is an unemployed vagrant and a bully. He reacts to their organised and dutied way of life with disgust, as it's diametrically opposed to his own. 1:56-2:21 He continues his troublesome behaviour nonetheless out of helplessness and a sense of rebellion towards the society which mistreats him. He cries out to the stars hoping for something to break this terrible cycle, saying that he can't help his negative behaviour because he's never lived any other way, that it's "Just his breed"
