We're Leaving
"We're Leaving", alternatively known as "Farewell to the Mountains", is a 1988 song by Soviet officer and the band VIA Kaskad. It references the Soviet withdraw from Afghanistan, and is the best-known song performed by Kaskad. The song has been described as the anthem of Soviet soldiers who fought in the war.
Creation
The Soviets had been fighting in the Soviet–Afghan War for nine years, "with little to show for their bloody struggle". Officer wrote a poem titled "We're Leaving" in May 1988.Song
"We're Leaving" is divided into five stanzas and six refrains. The content of each chorus is different, though all begin with "farewell, mountains, you witnessed".Content
The first stanza of the song begins by describing the landscape of Afghanistan by the end of the war. The first refrain criticizes "desk-scholars", and tells them not to judge what they don't understand. The second stanza says that "it is not right to remember kindly of you ", and remembers it as an "illusory world". The second refrain raises the question of how Afghanistan will atone for the tears of mothers of sons killed in the war.The third stanza wonders how many people were killed by this uncompleted mission. The third refrain states that the enemy won the war. The fourth stanza mentions three rations of alcohol, as that's "that's how many of us survived in the dashing reconnaissance platoon". A third toast is also traditionally raised to the dead. The fourth refrain says that the Soviet soldiers lived amongst the people and gave what they had. The fifth and final stanza states that sociologists could "squeeze biographies in half a dozen lines", but then asks if the sociologists would be able to handle Afghanistan.
It is followed by two refrains, the first of which is a repeat of the first refrain that criticizes desk-scholars", and the second of which repeats the third refrain. The song concludes with the phrase "we are leaving the East" twice, and then "leaving".
Usage
The song was played constantly during the end of the Soviet-Afghan War. The song was allegedly played each morning by the 345th Independent Guards Parachute Assault Regiment, which was guarding Salang Pass during the Soviet withdraw.The song is also associated with the Chechen Wars.
Reception
Kaskad performed the song at a concert hosted for the 70th anniversary of the October Revolution and founding of the Soviet Armed Forces. "We're Leaving" received a record high number of votes, and Kaskad was awarded a special prize by the East German Ministry of National Defence.The song was described as a symbolic epitaph to the soldiers who fought in the Soviet-Afghan War. "It was a song of departure with no closure."