Marijonas Mikutavičius – on how to create “Three Millions” and what hymns they would not create | sports

The work, which was born in Australia just over a month before the Games, quickly became the anthem of Lithuanian sports, although M. Mikutavičius admits that he did not think his song was so popular. But soon he felt that an extraordinary piece had been born.

“For the first time, I sang” Three Millions “live during the Olympics. I’ve heard people memorize words and sing along with me. Then I realized what we were really doing. Electricity ran through the body like the pinnacle of self-satisfaction. each singer when he heard the audience sing his song. There was a boom in sports in general at that time and people reacted much more stormy to events than now. Crowds of people, crazy about medals, wave their flags. At that time “It seemed very powerful. Then the stage came when I got tired of this song. And after a while I woke up again and now I sing with joy”, said the interpreter.

It first rang in 2000. In August, “Three Millions” has been roaring everywhere Lithuanian athletes travel for 20 years. Along with Marijonas, this song is attracted not only by the fans, but also by the athletes themselves. No one has admitted that the high chords and patriotic words also drew tears. Most of the time, joy. Although sometimes frustrating, when, according to the appendix, “we did not become champions just by mistake.”

Even the sober basketball strategist Jonas Kazlauskas, 2000 After leading the Lithuanian national team to the podium in honor of the Olympics, he admitted: “Then he remembered the constantly playing Marijonas Mikutavičius song” Three Millions “; as soon as it sounds, I always immediately remember Sydney. “

– How did the idea of ​​creating the song “Three Millions” come about? – LTOK.lt asked M.Mikutavičius.

– At that time, together with the Tangomanija team, we were preparing to cover the Sydney Olympics on Lithuanian television. And our show’s producer Aurelijus Silkinis, without my knowledge, promised the LRT leaders that he would create a sports anthem. So I was built before the event and I had to build. It really wouldn’t have occurred to me.

– At what stage in the creation of the song was the phrase “three million” born?

– When the word ‘champions’ appeared in the text. Because it just rhymes well. At that moment it seemed to me that it was this number that defined our state. I created the plugin pretty quick. Everything else took a little longer.

– You created the lyrics alone and there are more co-authors of the music. How was your work?

– I played the song for the first time on my old piano, which was at my parents’ house. At the time, Happyendless was also working in our recording studio. chebra – Andrius Kauklys, Marius Narbutis, Darius Vaičiulis: apologists for innovative dance music. I brought them that record and asked them to create an arrangement.

So I didn’t know exactly how the song should sound. The melody was obviously the same, but the arrangements themselves wanted a more rocky style. And Happyendless experimented with dance music.

But I left the boys to work. I came after a while and when I played the song, I was a bit surprised because I imagined it differently. I say, “Hey, chebra, something is not right here ”. But Darius said, “Man, you talk nonsense. All of this will definitely come down. “And when we combined the music with my voice, it felt like everything was in place. The further away, the more I started to like it.

Also, I don’t even remember whose idea it was, we thought we should use opera singers. To elevate a bit, add a sense of grandeur to the music. We invited Deividas Staponkai, Audrius Rubežiai and Asta Krikščiūnaitė. They sang, we put it all together, I asked. My reaction was: wow, it’s okay here.

– Did you immediately realize that the old Lithuanian sports anthem was born?

– No way. When you record a song, you may not know what will happen to it. Especially it was an order. The most important thing is not to be ashamed of yourself. It seems we have done well. As far as I know, at that time LRT had also given other songwriters to create a sports anthem. Apparently he didn’t really trust our shooter at the time and me. Even some of the serious composers tried to create. But our choice coincided.

But it was certainly not the case that the gills were immediately opened to everyone and suddenly everyone decided with one voice that works of genius were here and would enter the annals of music. There were also critical voices. Some acquaintances said, “Mark, no one will sing this song because no one can remember so many words.” They didn’t even want to put on some radio stations because they felt the piece had an over-the-top and overly sweet vapor of patriotism.

But on Lithuanian radio and television, that song was constantly played, accompanying the images and knowledge of sports competitions. In the general context, it all turned out to be very uplifting and powerful.

– Did you listen to the national anthems of other countries when creating “Three Millions”, didn’t you try to listen to its structure?

– I did not look at the structure, but the football anthems inspired me a lot. At that time, they were chosen by Linas Kunigėlis, maybe 15 or 20 years old and more modern songs. For me, it was a very interesting genre. Maybe that’s why at the “Three Millions” the sounds of the audience appeared at the beginning, in plays, in the crowd and the like. Because football anthems, especially the British ones, very often use interactive sounds, the voices of the commentators. So, without a doubt, I had something basic and I imagined what the sports anthem should sound like. It seemed to me that she must be powerful and sing with all her might. That is what I tried to do.

– Perhaps you have spoken with athletes, what does this song mean to them?

– Many times. We were young and communicated well with the athletes, especially when they came back from Sydney. We made some very strong friends. Both basketball players Ramūnas Vyšniauskas and Virgilijus Alekna said that “Three Millions” was constantly playing in Sydney. But I really don’t think it was the doping that affected them in any way. I’m glad to hear you heard that song though. Because somehow, I touched his daily routine a lot.

– In how many languages ​​have you sung “Three Millions”?

– I have still sung in Polish and German. I mean, Poles and Germans might not understand the words very well, but I sang by imagining that I was singing in Polish and German.

– To this day, the children in the street shout with regret: “Hey, three million?

– This. And once I crossed the street and suddenly alone bee he gets out of the car, leaves it in the middle of the street, and when he arrives, he says in English: “Why do three million sing when there are more of you?” Because there were more than three million inhabitants in Lithuania at that time. I replied that I only sing about good people. He laughed and went back to the car.

– Did the song “Three Millions” have a big impact on your career?

– Of course. Of course, they already knew me at the time because I worked in television. And in those days, presenters were very popular.

But when you sign such a song, in a sense, you write in history, even if it doesn’t seem like a masterpiece to everyone. In any case, with its social impact, it was one of the cornerstones. I really felt like my state had changed a bit.

– 2011 For the European Basketball Championship held in Lithuania, together with Andrius Borisevičius, he created the anthem of this tournament “Nebetyli sirgaliai”, and sang the team anthem “Lietuvos rytas” “Time to be first”. Maybe you are planning to create another Lithuanian national anthem?

– By the way, “Nebetyli sirgaliai” was also a commission, and “Time to be first” was not created by me, but at that time I was working on the writing of “Lietuvos rytas”, so the editor-in-chief offered me perform this song and I couldn’t refuse.

Yes, there were requests to recreate the sports anthem. But I am afraid to get into this matter because it seems to me that skating and trying to repeat the same thing, since it will probably not work anymore. I don’t really want to.

I’ve written the lyrics to the song for the Silver Crane Awards. Andrius Borisevičius composed music. There are several attempts, or at least I contribute to them. But you can’t abuse that because you don’t know if you will be successful.

It is difficult for me to build to order. If you have some kind of melody, maybe you can try it, and if you don’t have it, don’t take it because you don’t want to suffer.

Anyway, there have been more and more strange queries. Because sometimes people very naively imagine that if a song has already been successful, you can write hymns on any subject and it will be brutally strong.

I remember being in a meeting with the owners of a dairy product. They wanted me to write a song for some cheese. Anthem. I was trying to ask, how do you imagine that? He said, “Well, everyone would sing like ‘Three Millions.’ I tried to explain to them for a long time that I probably couldn’t do that with cheese. Cheese can be brutally good, but it’s impossible for everyone to sing about it. No They figured it out for a long time, thinking I was breaking and testing. Others asked to create a song about water. Supposedly what it means to you. But not all things can create hymns. It’s difficult to unite a nation with cheese.

– You really like fishing. Maybe you could create a fisherman’s anthem?

– I’ve written a song about fishing – “We went fishing.” She is certainly not a huge hit or a hymn. In fact, it is hard for me to imagine how the fishermen should be mobilized: “We will not let go if we do not catch pike nine times in a row” or something like that. Hymns should be dedicated to the cornerstones, all the important things. For the country, for patriotism. There may be a song directed against something. But it takes a very strong push. Because everyday things don’t deserve hymns.