(Note: The 18th Century Russian Empress Catherine The Great, wanted to take a tour of Russia. In order to keep her happily assured that everything in Russia was absolutely FINE- which it most assuredly was NOT--her lover and prime minister, Potemkin, erected an astonishing series of village facades , for Catherine to ride past. She was happily fooled, and Potemkin kept his power. The villages were burned as soon as she passed.)
What Is The Journey But Our View (lyrics) Peri Lyons c 2012 ASCAP
There was a Russian Empress
Who said she had to see
What was going on
With her Russian Peasantry
So: She rode out in state for a year and a day
And
her minister Potemkin rode ahead.
Potemkin rode ahead... to build
The fronts of houses -but not the houses
The fronts of villages -but no villages
He hired handsome peasants to stand outside
and Catherine
Was satisfied
When Catherine the Great looked at the view
She saw what Potemkin intended her to
No trouble, no starvation and no poverty
Potemkin Villages as far as she could see
Potemkin rode ahead to build
The fronts of houses but not the houses
The fronts of villages but no villages
He hired handsome peasants to stand outside
and Catherine
Was satisfied
And Catherine’s sleep was untroubled
And Catherine’s mind was untroubled
I fear we are too
untroubled
in our complacency
Potemkin Villages are all that we will see
when Catherine the Great rode past and on her way
Potemkin Villages were burned down the same day
That lying architecture, had to go away
No one could make a home there anyway
Potemkin rode behind to burn
The fronts of houses- burned like houses
The fronts of village-s burned like villages
The handsome peasants had already moved on
And Catherine
was long gone
I sing this song to say the burning hurts the same
The fake and the real all burn, with just as hot a flame
But this complacency is turning into shame
I did not see
The Potemkin Villages you put up just for me
My darling, you rode ahead to build
The fronts of houses but not our house
The fronts of villages but not our village
And everywhere you lied
and I
Was
satisfied
And yes my sleep was
untroubled
And yes my mind was untroubled
I fear we’re all too
untroubled
in our complacency
Potemkin Villages are all that we will see:
That heedless wreckage ,is our legacy.
