BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.

"'Back in the U.S.S.R.'" is a 1968 song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney^[1] (credited to Lennon/McCartney), which opens the double-disc album ''The Beatles'', commonly referred to as ''The White Album''.
The song describes a bad flight from the United States to the Soviet Union ("U.S.S.R." stands for "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics") on board a British BOAC airplane and mentions the beauty of Soviet women, the sound of balalaikas ringing, and the pleasure of returning home to his own country.^[2]
The song is a parody of Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." and the Beach Boys' "California Girls", and also contains a pun on Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind" McCartney is singing about the Soviet Republic of Georgia, whereas 'Georgia on My Mind' has been described as being about either or both of the state of Georgia in the U.S. 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 British Prime Minister Harold Wilson's "I'm Backing Britain" campaign. It has been suggested that McCartney twisted that into "I'm Back In (backin') the U.S.S.R."^[3]
A conservative American backlash against the song rapidly ensued, citing the song as evidence of left-wing Beatle propaganda. McCartney's recent confession of having used LSD (combined with Lennon's assertion that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus") made the Beatles the target of a new anti-rock campaign.
In his 1984 interview with ''Playboy'', McCartney said:
"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.
The song segues into the next song on the album, "Dear Prudence".

Contents

Problems in the band

Credits

Cover versions

Notes

External links

Problems in the band

The "White Album" 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.^[4]
"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. Lennon was asked years earlier in an interview, "Do you think Ringo is the best rock drummer in the world?" to which he replied, "He's not even the best drummer in the Beatles." (Lennon was famously moody, and on other occasions he was much more complimentary about Starr's drumming.)
Starr returned to the group a week later on 4 September 1968 when he participated in the filming of promotional videos for "Hey Jude" and "Revolution." The first subsequent recording session was on 5 September for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."^[5]

Credits

★ Paul McCartney – vocals, piano, lead guitar, drums, bass, handclaps, percussion

★ John Lennon – backing vocals, lead guitar, bass, drums, handclaps, percussion

★ George Harrison – backing vocals, lead guitar, bass, drums, handclaps, percussion
:''Credits per Ian MacDonald'' ''and Mark Lewisohn.''

Cover versions

★ In 1969, Chubby Checker's cover version charted on the Billboard Hot 100.

★ Also in 1969, John Fred & His Playboy Band released it as a single and on their 1970 album ''Love My Soul''.

★ In 1979, the punk group Dead Kennedys recorded a live version of the song that was released in 2004 on ''Live at the Deaf Club''.

★ In 1987, Billy Joel covered the song on his live-in-the-Soviet Union album ''КОНЦЕРТ''.

★ In 1987, B-Mania covered the song [1].

★ In 1992, the Leningrad Cowboys covered the song on their album ''We Cum From Brooklin''.

★ In 1993 the Baba Yaga folk-rock band released an a capella version with inclusions of Russian chastushki on their album ''Kuda ty poidesh''.

★ In 2001, Sigourney Weaver covered the song in the film ''Heartbreakers''. While pretending to be Russian and despite knowing none of the Russian language, she was asked to perform a traditional folk song. After some hesitation, she instead began singing "Back in the U.S.S.R."

★ In 2004, Beatallica recorded a heavy metal parody version titled "Blackened the U.S.S.R" on their album ''Beatallica'', aka ''The Grey Album''.

★ In 2006, Guns N' Roses covered the song live at Wembley Arena. Their version of the song was called "Back In the Fucking UK".

★ Type O Negative covered the song.

Notes

La Orquesta Mondragon1. Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now, , Barry, Miles, Henry Holt & Company, 1997,
2. The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics, , , , Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, 1990,
3. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, , Ian, MacDonald, Pimlico (Rand), 2005,
4. The Beatles Recording Sessions, , Mark, Lewisohn, Harmony Books, 1988,
5. The Beatles Recording Sessions, , Mark, Lewisohn, , 1988,
covered this song

External links

★ All Music Guide review

★ Alan W. Pollack's Notes On...