This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

The Birth of Pussy Riot: Six Early Songs

“Free the Cobblestones” (2011)

Known as Osvobodi Bruschatku in Russian, the song “Free the Cobblestones” was responsible for both Pussy Riot’s first few public performances and their first time going viral on Russian social media. Staged across Moscow’s public transportation system, multiple performances were held from early October up to November 7, 2011 throughout Moscow’s subway system, its metro stations, and even on top of its trolleys.¹ Specific locations included the Skhodnenskaya, Nakhimovsky Prospekt, Aeroport, Tverskaya, Otradnoye, Cherkizovskaya, and Tekstilshchiki metro stations, as well as underneath the archway that goes to the Borovitskaya station.² Once again featuring heavy sampling, the song borrows from the punk rock band Angelic Upstarts’ track “Police Oppression.”³

The song’s title “Free the Cobblestones” was meant as a recommendation for the Russian voting population to throw cobblestones from the street at the police during street clashes as a way to protest the upcoming Russian State Duma elections (held on December 4, 2011). Pussy Riot opposed both the supposed validity of the election cycle and the political stances of the State Duma members who “had begun talking about banning abortion” due to Putin’s declaration that Russia had “a so-called demographic problem, by which he meant that Russian women were not getting pregnant often enough.”⁴ In response, one such performance featured three members illegally climbing a tall scaffold in the Moscow underground subway system. Upon reaching the top of the scaffolding, Pussy Riot member Nadya Tolokonnikova reached under her clothes and pulled out a down feather pillow that had made her appear heavily pregnant; she proceeded to violently rip it apart. In her view, “the feathers created a sort of snow effect, in addition to the birth effect and the abortion effect.”⁵ This can be seen throughout the following performance video.

Also of note are the instances where Center “E” (Tsentr “Ė” in Russian) is written on screen. These can be seen at timestamps 0:45 and 0:54, where they point out three men who are dressed in civilian clothing and watching or filming Pussy Riot’s performance. Pussy Riot claims that these men are employees of Center “E”, which is short for the Center for Countering Extremism (Tsentr po protivodeĭstviiu ėkstremizmu). Center “E” was created in 2008 to “fight extremist activity and terrorism,” but their employees are known instead for covertly filming and reporting activism to police, harassing protestors at rallies, and spying on opposition politicians.⁶ Pussy Riot believes that their performance of “Free the Cobblestones” was the first time they were noticed by Center “E”, who thereafter started tracking their movements and accusing members of being involved in Pussy Riot. They also claimed that Center “E” mocked and accused them of being Americans that were being paid to perform while monitoring and bugging their phones.⁷

Performance footage provided below, followed by lyrics and cultural commentary in annotation form:

Lyrics in Russian:	Lyrics in simplified ALA-LC style:	Lyrics in English:
В школьные классы суют избирателей, В душных комнатах тухнут кабинки. Пахнет потом и веет контролем. Полы подметены, стабильность готова. Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Унитазы начищены, курицы в штатском. Призраки Жижека смыты в сортире. Химлес защичен, у Чириковой к выборам — “недопуск”, Феминистки отправлены в декретный отпуск. Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Никогда не поздно стать госпожой Дубинки заряжены, крики все громче, Разомни мышцы рук и ног. Полицейский лижет у тебя между ног. Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Освободи, освободи, освободи брусчатку! Египетский воздух полезен для легких, Сделай Тахрир на Красной площади! Проведи буйный день среди сильных женщин, Найди на балконе лом, освободи брусчатку! Тахрир! Тахрир! Тахрир! Бенгази! Тахрир! Тахрир! Тахрир! Триполи! Феминистский хлыст полезен России!	V shkol’nye klassy suiut izbirateleĭ, V dushnykh komnatakh tukhnut kabinki. Pakhnet potom i veet kontrolem. Poly podmeteny, stabil’nost’ gotova. Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Unitazy nachishcheny, kuritsy v shtatskom. Prizraki Zhizheka smyty v sortire. Хimles zashchichen, u Chirikovoĭ k vyboram — “nedopusk”, Feministki otpravleny v dekretnyĭ otpusk. Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Nikogda ne pozdno stat’ gospozhoĭ Dubinki zariazheny, kriki vse gromche, Razomni myshtsy ruk i nog. Politseĭskiĭ lizhet u tebia mezhdu nog. Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Osvobodi, osvobodi, osvobodi bruschatku! Egipetskiĭ vozdukh polezen dlia legkikh, Sdelaĭ Takhrir na Krasnoĭ ploshchadi! Provedi buĭnyĭ den’ sredi sil’nykh zhenshchin, Naĭdi na balkone lom, osvobodi bruschatku! Takhrir! Takhrir! Takhrir! Bengazi! Takhrir! Takhrir! Takhrir! Tripoli! Feministskiĭ khlyst polezen Rossii!	Voters are being shoved into school classrooms, And then into stuffy, stifling stalls That reek of sweat and smell of control. The floors have been swept, everything’s been prepared. Free, free, free the cobblestones! Free, free, free the cobblestones! The toilets have been polished, the chickens shoved into civilian clothing, While Žižek’s ghost gets flushed down the john.⁸ Khimki Forest’s⁹ been protected, but now Chirikova isn’t “allowed” to run for election¹⁰ And feminists get sent on maternity leave.¹¹ Free, free, free the cobblestones! Free, free, free the cobblestones! It’s never too late to become a proper lady The batons are primed and ready, the screams all the louder, So stretch out your arms and legs, And let a cop lick between your thighs. Free, free, free the cobblestones! Free, free, free the cobblestones! Egyptian air is good for the lungs, Turn Red Square into Tahrir!¹² Spend a wild day amongst strong women, Find a crowbar on the balcony, free the cobblestones! Tahrir! Tahrir! Tahrir! Benghazi! Tahrir! Tahrir! Tahrir! Tripoli! The feminist whip is good for Russia!

“Osvobodi Bruschatku,” a-pesni, accessed September 4, 2020, www.a-pesni.org/rock/pussyriot/osvobodi.php.↵
“Osvobodi Bruschatku,” a-pesni.↵
Gessen, 69.↵
Ibid, 72.↵
Ibid, 69.↵
Pavel Merzlikin, “Chto sotrudniki Tsentra «Ė» delaiut na mitingakh? Pochemu oni vse odinakovye? Otkuda berutsia dela za reposty?,” Meduza, August 23, 2019, https://meduza.io/feature/2019/08/23/chto-sotrudniki-tsentra-e-delayut-na-mitingah-pochemu-oni-vse-odinakovye-otkuda-berutsya-dela-za-reposty.↵
Gladin, “My ne khotim torgovat’ zhenskim litsom.”↵
Levi Asher, “Philosophy Weekend: Slavoj Zizek and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova,” Literary Kicks, November 17, 2013, https://www.litkicks.com/NadezhdaTolokonnikova.↵
Yevgenia Chirikova, “The Battle for Khimki Forest,” openDemocracy, August 23, 2010, https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/battle-for-khimki-forest/.↵
Nataliya Vasilyeva, “Environmentalist flees Russia, citing fears for children,” The Associated Press, April 20, 2015, https://apnews.com/article/5bf033415b21444fa8d573f6734637c5.↵
Chirikova, “The Battle for Khimki Forest.”↵
Judith Butler, “Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street,” Transversal, September 2011, https://transversal.at/transversal/1011/butler/en.↵

This page has paths:

Contents of this path:

This page has paths:

This page references: