There was no video to it yet, but an animated video has been now made and uploaded to his YouTube channel - watch the video below.
Alexander performed the song in many concerts at that time all over Europe, but also in ➔New York, like here:
And ➔here, in 2013 in Turkey, with coreography and backing dancers. He tells ➔here that he remembered a poem and wrote the song when he was 15. And in ➔this fan video he refers to a real event.
In 2014, in the Norwegian musical reality show "Hver gang vi møtes", he also told that it was a poem he was inspired of which he had heard as a child. And in the same TV-show, Sigvart Dagsland performed the song in his own interpretation.
You can hear both that with his own Norwegian lyrics and the thoughts of them both - with English and Hungarian translation. And with German translation ➔here.
A Liberty-class cargo ship
According to ➔this article, the poem was written based on a real event indeed:
Since the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, the task of delivering goods by sea from the United States to England, and later to the USSR with huge Liberty-class cargo ships.
From 1939 to 1945 more than 2,600 ships of this class were launched from the stocks at 18 US shipyards. More than 300 of them were sunk.
From 1943 to 1947, under the auspices of the United Nations, the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) functioned - the purpose of which was to solve humanitarian problems in the territory of post-war Europe, in particular, to provide assistance in the restoration of industry and agriculture. One of the UNRRA centers was organized in Yugoslav Trieste, liberated on May 1, 1945. Through this center, the procedure for accepting this specific cargo included unloading tons of manure from the ship and 20 days of resting the animals on the pasture before further transportation in wagons.
The ship was sunk near Trieste
On June 14, 1945, a Liberty class "William J. Palmer" transport departed from New York for Trieste with a cargo consisting of clothing, grain, 360 horses and fodder. On August 8, in the Adriatic Sea, a few miles from the port of destination, the ship came across a drifting mine that tore off the anchor. Having received a hole, it heeled within 15 minutes and sank at the point with coordinates ➔45 34 15N, 13 36 15E.
The team managed to plunge into the boats and headed for the nearest shore, located at a distance of less than a mile away. The boats were followed by horses from those on the upper deck, six of them managed to reach the shore. The report on the incident recorded: "All crew members and six horses were saved".
Boris Slutsky(1919-1986)wrote the poem "Horses in the Ocean" in 1951 based on these events. With some deviations and poetic exaggerations, replacing "Liberty" by the equivalent of a Russian, with the ear of someone who is not fluent in the language, "Gloria".
One of his friends, Georgy Rublev, said that he had read an article in a magazine about "American transport with horses sunk by the Germans in the Atlantic." Slutsky wrote this poem very quickly and almost never corrected it later.
Here is what he himself wrote: “This is almost the only poem written without knowledge of the subject. Nearly. I got into the open sea for the first time 15 years later. True, I personally observed how horses swim, since in the spring of 1942 I swam on a horse across the Arctic river near Moscow. This sentimental, careless poem is still my best known."
They published "Horses in the Ocean" in the Pioneer magazine as a children's poem about animals. Then they were reprinted dozens of times. Ardent pioneers recited these poems loudly at school matinees. There were four Polish translations, several Italian ones.
The poem was put to music as well, and several tunes are written on the horses, like this:
The song was sung in pioneer camps, with a guitar in the yards, in electric trains (source).
Here is the original poem and English translation:
Лошади в океане - Борис Абрамович Слуцкий -
Лошади умеют тоже плавать,
Но не быстро и недалеко.
"Глория" - по-русски значит "Слава", -
Это вам запомнится легко.
Шёл корабль, своим названьем гордый,
Океан стараясь превозмочь.
В трюме, добрыми мотая мордами,
Тыща лощадей топталась день и ночь.
Тыща лошадей! Подков четыре тыщи!
Счастья всё ж они не принесли.
Мина кораблю пробила днище
Далеко-далёко от земли.
Люди сели в лодки, в шлюпки влезли.
Лошади поплыли просто так.
Что ж им было делать, бедным, если
Нету мест на лодках и плотах?
Плыл по океану рыжий остров,
На закате остров плыл гнедой.
Лошадям казалось - плавать просто,
Океан казался им рекой.
Но не видно у реки той края,
На исходе лошадиных сил
Лошади заржали, возражая
Тем, кто в океане их топил.
Лошади тонули с громким ржаньем,
Все на дно покуда не пошли.
Вот и всё. А всё-таки мне жаль их -
Рыжих, не увидевших земли.
Horses in the ocean - by Boris A. Slutsky -
(translated by Mónika Menyhért, revised by Marina Chirnitcaia)
Horses can swim too
But not fast and not far.
"Gloria" - in Russian means "Glory", -
It will be easy for you to remember.
There was a ship, proud of its name,
Trying to overcome the ocean.
In the bilge, kindly wagging their muzzles,
Thousands of horses trampled day and night.
Thousands of horses! Horseshoes of four thousand!
Still, they did not bring happiness.
The mine pierced the ship's bottom
Far, far from the land
People got into boats, climbed into dinghies.
The horses were just swimming.
What could they do, poor, if
there aren't places on boats and rafts?
A red island sailed across the ocean,
At sunset a red island was swimming
It seemed to the horses that it was easy to swim,
The ocean seemed like a river to them.
But you can't see that edge by the river,
Running out of horsepower
The horses neighed in protest
Those who drowned them in the ocean.
The horses were drowning with loud braying Until they all went to the bottom.
That's all. And yet I feel sorry for them -
Redhead horses who have not seen the land.
Listen to Alexander's song here:
It's a lyrics video, but you can read the text here too, and ➔herein 13 more languages:
13 horses swimming in the sea
Waiting for someone to find them
Their ship is gone and now they are alone
With water everywhere around them
The men were saved from the sinking ship
Right before it started to burn
And while they're safe their loyal friends need help
Patiently waiting for their turn
13 horses swimming in the sea
They don't even know it's pointless
The pride remains but this time it won't help
They used to be so tall and suddenly they're small
There's a couple way too far behind
Soon they will be out of sight
But then who cares, they're dying anyway
All of them are doomed this night
11 horses swimming in the sea
The sea they thought was just a river
They're used to this, it's probably just a race
That helps to ease their minds, but where's the finish line?
The night grows dark, the body wants to rest
It hurts to breathe and still they do their best
They want to live no matter for how long
Their thoughts have disappeared 'cause now they're pretty scared
7 horses struggling in the sea
Waiting for someone to find them
They don't look back 'cause what's the point of that
There is only death behind them
They cry for help but help will never come
They don't know where to swim or what they're swimming from
They try to swim some more when panic starts to spread
They're swimming into shore but only in their heads
The 3 last horses dying in a sea
Shouting of their cries for no one
They're born to win, they're screaming in their hearts
The strength of thousand men, they're fighting 'till the end
The sun is up, birds are everywhere
They're flying high, surfing in the air
It's nice to live when life is such a bless
One horse that swims it seems to be the last
The 13th horse has always been the best
His owner will be proud but now he wants to rest
He's longing for his home, the girl will give him food
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