Back in the U.S.S.R.

"Back in the U.S.S.R."
Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles
Released 22 November 1968
Recorded 22, 23 August 1968
Genre Rock and roll, surf rock, hard rock
Length 2:43
Label Apple Records
Writer Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin
The Beatles track listing
"Back in the U.S.S.R."
Single by The Beatles
B-side "Don't Pass Me By"
Released June 1976
Recorded 22, 23 August 1968
Genre Rock and roll, surf rock, hard rock
Length 2:43
Label Parlophone
Producer George Martin
The Beatles singles chronology
"Yesterday"
(UK-1976)
------
"The Long and Winding Road" / "For You Blue"
(US-1970)		 "Back in the U.S.S.R."
(1976)		 "Got to Get You into My Life"
(1976)

"Back in the U.S.S.R." is a 1968 song by The Beatles (credited to the song writing partnership Lennon/McCartney but primarily written by Paul McCartney)[1] which opens the double-disc album The Beatles, also known as The White Album. It segues into the next song on the album, "Dear Prudence". The song was released as a single in 1976.

Contents

Overview

The song opens and closes with the sounds of a jet aircraft landing and refers to a "dreadful" flight back to the U.S.S.R. from Miami Beach in the United States, on board a B.O.A.C. aeroplane. Propelled throughout by McCartney's uptempo piano playing and lead guitar riffs, the lyrics tell of the singer's great happiness on returning home, where "the Ukraine girls really knock me out" and the "Moscow girls make me sing and shout" (and are invited to "Come and keep your comrade warm"). He also looks forward to hearing the sound of "balalaikas ringing out".[1][2]

Paul McCartney wrote this song while the Beatles were in Rishikesh, India, learning Transcendental Meditation. The title of the song is a tribute to Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." while the chorus and background vocals pay homage to the Beach Boys' "California Girls". Mike Love of the Beach Boys also attending the retreat in Rishikesh at the same time; he has stated in interviews that, in order to make the song sound more like a Beach Boys number, he encouraged McCartney to "talk about the girls all around Russia, the Ukraine and Georgia" in the lyrics.[3] The song also contains a pun on Hoagy Carmichael's and Stuart Gorrell's "Georgia on My Mind". McCartney is singing about the female population of the Soviet Republic of Georgia ("the Georgia's always on my mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mi-mind") right after "the Ukraine girls" and "Moscow girls", whereas the original song "Georgia on My Mind" refers to either the U.S. state or a woman named Georgia. McCartney thought that when he listened to the Beach Boys, it sounded like California, so he decided to write a song that "sounded" like the U.S.S.R. The title was inspired in part by the I'm Backing Britain campaign that had been endorsed by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson. It has been suggested that McCartney twisted that into "I'm back in (backin') the U.S.S.R."[4]

In his 1984 interview with Playboy, McCartney said:

I wrote that as a kind of Beach Boys parody. And "Back in the USA" was a Chuck Berry song, so it kinda took off from there. I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if they were California, you know? It was also hands across the water, which I'm still conscious of. 'Cause they like us out there, even though the bosses in the Kremlin may not. The kids do. And that to me is very important for the future of the race.[5]

"Back in the U.S.S.R." was released by Parlophone as a single in the UK in 1976. It featured the song "Twist and Shout" on Side B.[6] It has since been released as a single backed with "Don't Pass Me By".[7]

During the 1960s the Beatles were derided in the USSR as the "belch of Western culture" and in the 1980s McCartney was refused permission to play there.[8] According to The Moscow Times, when McCartney finally got to play the song at his concert in Moscow's Red Square in May 2003 at the age of 60 "the crowd went wild".[8] When asked about the song before the concert McCartney said he had known little about the Soviet Union when he wrote it. "It was a mystical land then," he said. "It's nice to see the reality. I always suspected that people had big hearts. Now I know that's true."[8] "Finally we got to do that one here," he said after the song.[8]

Problems in the band

"The Beatles" sessions allowed the four members to work on separate projects at the same time and, as a result, kept tensions to a minimum. However, tempers flared during the recording session on 22 August 1968, and Ringo Starr walked out and announced that he had quit.[9]

"Back in the U.S.S.R." and "Dear Prudence", the first two tracks of the album, were recorded without Starr, with McCartney primarily responsible for the drum parts. McCartney's drums are most prominent in the mix, but both John Lennon and George Harrison recorded drum tracks for the song; these are audible in the left channel of the stereo mix.

After the other Beatles urged him to return, Starr rejoined the group almost two weeks later on 4 September 1968 when he participated in the filming of a promotional video for "Hey Jude". During a break in the filming of the "Hey Jude" video, Marc Sinden (who appears in the film) recalls Lennon playing a song on his acoustic guitar. "Everyone went 'Wow'... Filming started before we could ask what it was. When it was later released, we realised it was Back in the USSR."[10]

Personnel

Personnel per Ian MacDonald[4] and Mark Lewisohn.[9]

Cover versions

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Miles 1997, pp. 422–423.
  2. ↑ Aldridge 1990, p. 49.
  3. ↑ The Beatles Bible 2009.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 MacDonald 2005, pp. 309–310.
  5. ↑ Goodman 1984.
  6. ↑ "Back In The U.S.S.R. b/w Twist And Shout". Graham Calkin's Beatles Pages. Graham Calkin. http://www.jpgr.co.uk/r6016.html. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  7. ↑ "Back in the U.S.S.R. / Don't Pass Me By". rateyourmusic.com. rateyourmusic.com. http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_beatles/back_in_the_u_s_s_r____dont_pass_me_by/. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 O'Flynn, Kevin (26 May 2003). "Paul McCartney Finally Back in the U.S.S.R.". The Moscow Times (The Moscow Times). http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/paul-mccartney-finally-back-in-the-ussr/238263.html. Retrieved 16 August 2010. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lewisohn 1988, p. 151.
  10. ↑ Pinch 2009.

References

External links