Vysotskii on Vodka
Vladimir Vysotsky -- himself a legendary drinker who would die from his excesses -- captured the Soviet relationship with vodka from two angles. One song follows a man through the license and regrets of surrender to the national passion. The other immortalizes a quintessential street ritual: two strangers asking a passerby to be the third man splitting a standard three-ruble bottle. Both songs met their audiences with laughter, empathy, and recognition.