Boris Grebenshchikov himself asserted that he was not aware who was the author of the song. In general, so many legends are associated with this composition that even the most devoted fans of the Aquarium do not know which one is true. There is a version that "under the sky is blue" - the People's Israeli composition. Someone claims that the author is the medieval poet Francesco di Milano, who nevertheless still wrote for some reason in Hebrew.
In fact, it all started back in 1972. It was then that the poet Henri Volokhonsky composed the poem "Paradise". Music wrote Vladimir Vavilov, who issued his melody for the work of the butter of the XIV century Francesco Canova and Milano. The first performer of the song was Bard Alexey Khutynko, many years of friend and co-author Henri Volokhonsky. He knows under the pseudonym tail. He, by the way, left his life recently, in 2017.
Well, then the song has become famous in the Bardian medium, many performers included it in their repertoire.
In the seventies of the last century, the song was used in the play "LED" of the Leningrad Theater Studio "Raduga". And there the main role was played by the deceased flutist of the group "Aquarium" Dusha Romanov. So, according to the legend, it was there that he heard it, actually, Boris Borisovich and creatively reworked.
In the original version, the words "above the firm blue is the city of Golden". And the Grebenshchikov began with the lines "under the sky blue". It is said that he simply did not really really heard the words. However, the musician himself in one of the interviews directly said that the alteration was conscious. "The kingdom of God is within us, and therefore placing heavenly Jerusalem on the sky ... meaningless."
For the first time, Grebenshchikov performed the "city" in March 1984 at a concert in the Kharkov State University. He was the fifth according to her performer. Then, during the debut of the song in his authorship, he admitted that he was not aware of who and when wrote this thing. Two years later, in January 1986, the song was recorded by the Group "Aquarium" in the Leningrad Radio House. Under the name "city", she entered the album "Aquarium" "ten arrows," was performed on a variety of concerts and became a "business card" Boris Grebenshchikov.
Well, the All-Union Popularity Hit found after he sounded performed by the Aquarium in the film Sergey Solovyov "ACCA". It was after this song and became folk.