What an episode! Let’s pour one out for Ray Stussy. Let’s pour another one out for Varga’s gums. As for the music, Fargo served up a reliably eclectic mix: A little blues, a little Beethoven, a little Russian nationalism. Let’s turn it up.
Song: The Red Army Choir, “Cossack’s Song”
Scene: Yuri and Meemo are on the move
Isn’t it odd how this season of Fargo is so… prescient? As our nation is gripped in a hysteria over the president’s alleged ties to Russia, Fargo this season has tracked the slow implosion of Emmit Stussy’s parking-lot empire caused by an ill-advised decision to reach out to an evil foreign crime syndicate in a time of need. Emmit thought he was taking out a shady loan to cover a short-term financial loss, but in reality he was exposing himself to a virus that is slowly but surely eating away at everything in his life. He’s lost his business, his wife, and now his brother. What’s left? Whatever it is, Varga and his goons will take it. Like I said, this is all very… resonant, right?
Musically, Fargo has defaulted this season to folk songs from Russia and Eastern Europe, helping to create a feeling of displacement and foreboding as Varga stages his invasion of middle America via mounds and mounds of paperwork concealing phony accounting ledgers and sham shell companies. You might also recall that scene from episode two, in which Yuri talks about the fearsome military force of the Cossacks before throwing Emmit’s lawyer out of a parking garage. But who are these guys exactly? Yuri is Russian, Meemo is Chinese, and Varga is British. Are they really just stand-ins for that eternally terrifying “other” that Americans are always over-reacting against? Whatever they are, the foreign infiltration of St. Cloud, Minn. has been both suffocatingly figurative and destructively literal.
This week, Fargo went to this musical well again with “Cossack’s Song.” It’s hard to find a reliable translation of the lyrics, so forgive me if my Russian is shaky here. But assuming this translation is accurate, it’s certainly reflective of the bleak current state of affairs on Fargo.
Our Soviet Union conquers the whole world
Like a huge bear in the East
Sheep wander aimlessly, without any worries
A Soviet bear on the huntOur brotherhood is a good life
Our generosity is incomparable
All who are with us are strong
All who are against, hold on
So that we all do not have to work hardAll peoples, it is not worth it
What would we turn you into ashes
Thank you, low bow
From the most powerful nation
Yikes! And I mean that in reference to Fargo and real life.
Song: Son House, “John The Revelator”
Scene: Ray and Nikki hide out a hotel
One of the most famous pre-war 20th century blues songs, “John The Revelator” has been performed by countless artists and appeared in all sorts of contexts. The White Stripes have covered it. So has Tom Waits. So has Nick Cave, aka the Australian Tom Waits. So has the jokey metal band The Sword. Taj Mahal covered it for Blues Brothers 2000. Curtis Stigers performed a growly version for Sons Of Anarchy. I could go on.
When a song is performed as often as “John The Revelator,” it can lose some of its power, particularly an old blues tune, which can start to resemble a beer commercial jingle if it is modernized too much. That’s why the best and most well-known versions of “John The Revelator” are among the oldest — Blind Willie Johnson’s rendition from 1930, and Son House’s series of chilling a-cappella takes from the 1960s.
Son House started playing the blues as a young man in the Mississippi Delta in the ’20s, and influenced giants such as Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters. But he did not become a well-known musician himself until the height of the coffeehouse folk boom of the ’60s. By then, he had long since left the Delta and relocated to Rochester, New York, giving up his music career. But the folk scene represented a new commercial avenue for House, and he started performing concerts and releasing new recordings of old blues standards like “John The Revelator.”
When Son House sings it, the meaning of “John The Revelator” hits with stunning finality — it plainly foretells the end of the world. The “John” of the title refers to the apostle John, the author of the Book of Revelation. In one version of the song, recorded in 1965, House references Adam and Eve’s eviction from paradise, the crucifixion of Christ, and his resurrection.
On Fargo, Ray and Nikki have clearly been cast out of their idyllic, lovey-dovey bubble. Now, Ray has been crucified, his parting gift to Nikki, who was spared certain death at the hands of Meemo when he was called away to clean up Emmit’s mess. Will there be a resurrection? Will Ray’s revenge on his brother come via Gloria, who is heading back to the scene of the crime? I’m picking my gums in nervous anticipation!
BONUS TRACKS
Song: Plamena Mangova, Piano Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op.57, “Appassionata”: III. Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Scene: End credits
