Dāvāja Māriņa


"Dāvāja Māriņa", or "Dāvāja Māriņa meitenei mūžiņu" is a song written by Latvian composer Raimonds Pauls with lyrics by Leons Briedis. It was performed at the 1981 Mikrofona aptauja by Aija Kukule and Līga Kreicberga. It is one of Pauls' most popular songs and has been covered by several artists, most notably Russian pop icon Alla Pugacheva in 1982 with lyrics by Andrei Voznesensky as "Million roz", also widely known as "Million alykh roz". Performed by Pugacheva, the song became an international hit in Europe and Asia; it was the most popular single in Finland, Japan and Mongolia. While the Latvian lyrics have a domestic theme of maternal comfort and life's hardships, the Russian version tells a dramatic story of a poor artist's unrequited love. It has been covered in a large number of languages, with title and lyrics overwhelmingly based on the Russian version.

Alla Pugacheva version

Pugacheva's cover was written by Andrei Voznesensky, who drew inspiration for the Russian lyrics from the life of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmani who allegedly once filled with flowers a square of a hotel where Marguerite de Sèvres, a French actress he had affection over, was staying. The song is also the opening and title track of Pugacheva's album of the same name released in Japan in 1983.
Pugacheva herself did not like this song, even at the recording stage, she argued with Voznesensky about the lyrics of the song. She later admitted that the more she hated the song, the more popular it became.
In 2010, the song Million Roses from Pugacheva’s repertoire was included in the 10 best songs of the 20th century in Eastern Europe according to the popular TV program “Property of the Republic” on Channel One; in 2014, Pugacheva performed Million Roses along with her other hits at the music festival in Jurmala. Along with Pugacheva, the festival headliners in Jurmala were Ricky Martin, Il Volo, Ola, Alessandro Safina, and Lara Fabian.

Charts

Other covers

Recordings

Numerous further covers are lyrically based on Andrei Voznesensky lyrics :