The heritage of “Sidor Karpovich” in the modern song culture

The article analyzes the transformation of the Russian folk song “Dear Sir Sidor Karpovich”, studied by V. N. Toporov in 1979. This text was a prison game depicting a funeral rite and having a function of initiation, but re cently it has become a popular song and lost its minor mood. At the same time, the protagonist (Sidor Karpovich) loses his name and becomes a secon dary character. The main role is taken by his wife, Lyubka, called by the epithet “gray dove”. The plot of the song is based on twists and turns of her life after the death of her husband. Analyzing the image of the dove in poetry and, in particular, in prison lyrics, as well as looking at possible infl uences of other popular songs, the author proposes possible reasons for such a transformation.