Korobeiniki


"Korobeiniki" is a nineteenth-century Russian folk song that tells the story of a meeting between a korobeinik and a girl, describing their haggling over goods in a metaphor for seduction. Outside Russia, "Korobeiniki" is widely known as the Tetris theme tune.
The song "Korobeiniki" is based on the poem of the same name by Nikolay Nekrasov, which was first printed in the Sovremennik magazine in 1861. Its increasing tempo and the dance style led to it quickly becoming a popular Russian folk song. Early musical compositions of the song were published by and Alexander N. Chernyavsky in 1898. Varvara Panina made gramophone records of the song with several recording companies in 1905 and later.

Melody


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Lyrics sample

There are several variants of the lyrics, all being minor variations of the beginning of the poem.
Russian lyricsTransliterationEnglish translation
1Ой полным полна моя коробушка
Есть и ситец, и парча.
Пожалей, душа-зазнобушка,
Молодецкого плеча.		Oy polnym polna moya korobushka
Yest' i sitets i parcha.
Pozhaley, dusha-zaznobushka,
Molodetskogo plecha.		Oh, my crate is so full,
I've got both calico and brocade.
Take pity, oh sweetie,
Of this lad's shoulder
2Выйду, выйду в рожь высокую,
Там до ночки погожу,
Как завижу черноокую,
Все товары разложу.		Vyydu, vyydu v rozh' vysokuyu,
Tam do nochki pogozhu,
Kak zavizhu chernookuyu,
Vse tovary razlozhu.		I will, I will go out into the tall rye,
I will wait there till the night comes,
Once I see the black-eyed lass,
I will showcase all my goods.
3Цены сам платил не малые,
Не торгуйся, не скупись:
Подставляй-ка губы алые,
Ближе к милому садись!		Tseny sam platil ne malye,
Ne torguysya, ne skupis':
Podstavlyay-ka guby alye,
blizhe k milomu sadis'!		I paid no small prices myself,
Don't bargain, don't be stingy:
Bring your scarlet lips here,
Sit closer to the dear lad!

Arrangements of the song

Numerous Russian singers performed this song.

''Tetris''

After arrangements of "Korobeiniki" first appeared in Spectrum Holobyte's Apple IIGS and Mac versions of Tetris, the song was re-arranged in 1989 by Hirokazu Tanaka as the "Type A" accompaniment in Nintendo's Game Boy version 1.1. It has since become closely associated with the game in Western popular culture and the Tetris Company has required its inclusion in every version of the game since 2002. In 2008, UGO listed the song as the 3rd best video game music of all time.
The Tetris Company holds a sound trademark on this variation of the song for use in video games. The official Tetris website wrote that Korobeiniki was "memorable enough on its own as both a poem and folk tune", independent of its adaption into the Tetris theme.
Doctor Spin's 1992 novelty Eurodance cover version under the name "Tetris" reached No. 6 on the UK singles chart.
The 2023 song "Hold on Tight", performed by aespa and featured in the 2023 film Tetris, samples the Tetris theme song.
In November 2024, Hiiragi Magnetite released the song "Tetoris", inspired by the Tetris theme. The song spread rapidly on social media immediately after its release, debuting at number one on both the JAPAN Heatseekers Songs and Niconico Vocaloid Songs Top 20 charts. It also debuted at number 71 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart for the week of December 23, 2024, eventually reaching number 35. The music video reached 10 million views on YouTube in December.

Other adaptations and versions