Again I fly from Moscow to Odessa
The flight’s delayed, they again repeat
And there passes, all in blue, the stewardess, like a princess,
Reliable as the whole civilian fleet.

The Murmansk skies are cloudless and blue
Or fly to Ashkhabad right now, it’s fair!
Kiev, Kharkiv, Kishinev are open too
And Lviv is - but I don’t need to be there!

They tell me there’s no hope today, they’re guessing
Can’t argue with the heavens and the skies
And now they again delay the one flight to Odessa
Apparently, the strip’s all over ice.

In Leningrad it’s thawing, and it’s free -
Why don’t I fly to Leningrad on a dare?
In Tbilisi, it’s warm, they’re growing tea
It’s lovely - but I don’t need to be there.

Boarding for Rostov now, the speaker says,
While I just need Odessa, and tonight!
I need to go where they haven’t let planes for three days
And again now they delay the flight.

I need to go where it’s full of snow
And more blizzards tomorrow - I don’t care
That somewhere it’s warm and clear, I know,
And sunny - but I don’t need to be there.

They don’t let us out here, they don’t let us in there then,
It’s unfair, and I pine in my seat.
Now the bored stewardess invites us to board again,
Accessible, like the whole civilian fleet.

They’ve opened up the farthest little spot
Where I won’t go if they pay the fare.
They’ve opened Vladivostok, that closed port,
They’ve opened Paris - but I don’t need to be there.

The weather’ll clear, they’ll let us through, and we’ll fly up, they say.
The airliner tenses, turbines hum,
I sit on pins and needles - what if again there’s a delay
They have a million reasons and need one.

I need to go where fog and blizzards blew
Where snowstorms are expected - I don’t care
That London, Delhi, Magadan are open too
Everything’s open - but I don’t need to be there.

You cry or laugh, I’m right, Again they delay the flight,
And she leads us back to our past seats
Slim as a Tu-134 Same stewardess, all has been before,
Miss Odessa, like the whole civilian fleet.

Again they say there’s a delay ‘till eight
And people obey, go to sleep and sigh...
The Devil take this, I’m resigned to fate
And wherever it’s open, I will fly.