Александр Вертинский - Я сегодня смеюсь над собой

Je ne suis pas parfaite, toi non plus Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky Aleksandr Nikolayevich Vertinsky (Russian: Александр Вертинский, 21 March 1889 in Kiev — 21 May 1957 in Leningrad) was a Russian artist, poet, singer, composer, cabaret artist and actor who exerted seminal influence on the Russian tradition of artistic singing. Born out of wedlock, Vertinsky was brought up by his fathers sister in Kiev. He was ousted from school in 1905 and tried a variety of jobs before starting to earn his living by contributing short stories to the Kievan periodicals. In 1912 Vertinsky and his sister moved to Moscow where he failed in his ambition to join Stanislavskys Moscow Art Theatre. At that period he became addicted to cocaine, a baneful habit that would claim the life of his sister. By 1916, Vertinsky started to employ a scenic figure of Pierrot, with powdered face, singing miniature novellas-in-song known as ariettes, or Pierrots doleful ditties. Each song contained a prologue, exposition, cu