Rasputin (song)
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| “Rasputin” | |||||
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.jpg/200px-Boney_M._-_Rasputin_(1978_single).jpg) |
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| Single by Boney M from the album Nightflight to Venus |
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| Released | 28. August 1978 | ||||
| Format | 7" single, 12" single | ||||
| Recorded | 1978 | ||||
| Genre | Pop, Disco | ||||
| Length | 4:39 (7" version)
7:33 (12" version) |
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| Label |  Hansa Records (FRG)
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| Writer(s) | Frank Farian, Fred Jay and George Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer) | ||||
| Producer | Frank Farian | ||||
| Boney M singles chronology | |||||
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"Rasputin" is a 1978 disco hit single by the disco group Boney M., the second single off their hugely successful album Nightflight to Venus. The song is a semi-biographical song whose subject and namesake is Grigori Rasputin, a friend and advisor of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family during the early 20th century. The song variously sensationalizes Rasputin as a playboy, mystical healer, and political demiurge.
"Rasputin" is also distinctive for its incorporation of a portion of Uskudara Gider Iken, a classic Turkish folk song.[citation needed]
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[edit] Subject
The song references Grigori Rasputin's alleged amelioration of Tsarevich Alexei of Russia, and how this endeared him to the boy's mother, the Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna (former Princess Alix of Hesse). It also claims that Rasputin was Alexandra's paramour ("Ra Ra Rasputin: lover of the Russian queen") and that Rasputin's political power overshadowed that of the Tsar himself. While "Rasputin" accurately indicates that unfavorable rumors damaged Grigori's reputation, there is no verifiable evidence to suggest that he had an affair with Alexandra.
The end of the song recounts a modified version of a popular description of the events that culminated in Rasputin's assassination, as perpetrated by Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich, and Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia on December 16, 1916. Specifically, the song states that Rasputin's assassins fatally shot him after he survived the poisoning of his wine with a very large dose of cyanide.
The song is historically inaccurate in at least one respect. The line "but to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear" seems to imply that Moscow was the Russian capital at the time the events described in the song took place. It was in fact St. Petersburg (later Petrograd). The capital was not moved to Moscow until 1918, after the death of Rasputin and the end of the Imperial era.
[edit] Reception and legacy
The song rose to the top of the charts in Germany and Austria, and went to #2 in the United Kingdom and Switzerland. It was another number 1 hit for Boney M in Australia, providing them a second (and last) chart topper in that country (the other one being "Rivers Of Babylon").
Although the song was written and performed in English (with a smattering of German - But the kasatschok he danced really wunderbar!), it enjoyed great popularity in Russia and is credited with making Rasputin famous again there although it was omitted from the Russian pressing of the album and Boney M. were forbidden to perform the song during their 10 performances in Moscow in December 1978. [1]
[edit] Versions
The album pressings of Nightflight to Venus features the title track segued into "Rasputin". Initial LP pressings include the full-length 6:40 version of "Rasputin", most notable for an instrumental interlude in the 3rd verse between the lines "though he was a brute, they just fell into his arms" and "Then one night some men of higher standing ..." that was later cut out. The second LP pressing featured a 6:03 version, subsequent pressings a 5:51 version. Boney M.'s single edit is completely different from the edit used for Frank Farian's Gilla recording in German that followed in November 1978 (without success).
[edit] The Single
The German and Benelux pressings were backed with "Painter Man" - most other territories chose "Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night". Only the UK pressing had the full 5:32 version, most countries faded it by 5:02, Carrere (France) already at 4:45. In England, "Painter Man" was issued as an A-side single in February 1979, giving the group a #10 hit.
[edit] Other cover versions
In 1994 the Croatian group Vatrogasci (Firefighters) featuring Croatian comedian Željko Pervan made a parody of this song, translating it in Croatian language (naming "Raspiči, opiči") and making it in turbofolk arrangement.
Battle/folk metal band Turisas have also been known to cover this song at festivals and gigs and released it in September 2007 as a single.
Rock and Reel/Metal group Boiled in Lead covered it on their albums Alloy and Antler Dance.
[edit] References
- ^ Dave Carpenter, "Rasputin is fondly remembered; Russia's mad monk is Uncle Grigory in Pokrovskoye," The Montreal Gazette, July 15, 1995, pg. J.4.
