[Verse 1]
Four hundred fifty BC, a thinker named Empedocles
Said the whole world's built from roots, not deities
Earth, air, fire, water — nothing more, nothing less
Aristotle picked it up, turned guess into a creed to bless
Two thousand years that model held the throne
No one questioned dirt and flame and breath and stone
[Chorus]
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода
Earth and air, fire, water — that's the old-world law
Four little roots, held the truth so long
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода, sing the ancient song
Four roots, one world, that's how the story's told
[Verse 2]
Jabir ibn Hayyan, eighth century mind
Boiling, cooling, distilling — new tools he'd find
Al-Razi right beside him, mixing acid in a jar
They cooked up aqua regia, "royal water," named for tsars
Nitric plus hydrochloric, a partnership so bold
It ate through silver, copper, even melted down pure gold
Alchemists chasing magic, but accidentally precise
Turning superstition into something measured, something wise
[Chorus]
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода
Earth and air, fire, water — that's the old-world law
Four little roots, held the truth so long
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода, sing the ancient song
Four roots, one world, that's how the story's told
[Verse 3]
Sixteen sixty-nine, Hennig Brand in his lab
Collecting fifteen hundred gallons, strangest thing he'd grab
He wasn't hunting glory, he was hunting gold from pee
Boiled it down to paste instead — and what did Brandy see?
A waxy glow in darkness, pale and ghostly white
He'd found the first new element, phosphorus, "bearer of light"
No stone of wisdom waiting, no transmutation true
But chemistry got its first real birth certificate, brand new
[Bridge]
Fail at gold, succeed at glass —
Furnace, flask, and flame that's built to last
Ни золота, ни чуда (no gold, no magic trick)
But every beaker that they burned still taught the next kid
Recording, measuring, heating with care
That's the real treasure the alchemists left in the air
[Verse 4]
So earth and air, fire and water — ancient, tidy, wrong
Four neat boxes couldn't hold the world for very long
Lavoisier is coming with his scales to set it straight
But first these dreamers built the bench, the burner, and the plate
Give credit where it's due before the old roots fall
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода — the first try, not the last at all
[Chorus]
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода
Earth and air, fire, water — that's the old-world law
Four little roots, held the truth so long
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода, sing the ancient song
Four roots, one world, that's how the story's told
[Outro]
Четыре корня, одна земля
Four little roots, and now we know the way
Soon the scales will tip, and the old roots fall
Земля, воздух, огонь, вода — the first try of them all