Back in the U.S.S.R.
| "Back in the U.S.S.R." | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles | |
| Published | Northern Songs |
| Released | 22 November 1968 |
| Recorded | 22–23 August 1968, EMI Studios, London |
| Genre | Rock and roll,hard rock |
| Length | 2:43 |
| Label | Apple |
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
| "Back in the U.S.S.R." | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover to 1969 Swedish single
|
|||||||||||
| Single by The Beatles | |||||||||||
| B-side | "Don't Pass Me By" | ||||||||||
| Released | March 1969 | ||||||||||
| Label | Apple | ||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney | ||||||||||
| The Beatles Sweden and Denmark singles chronology | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| "Back in the U.S.S.R." | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover to 1976 UK single
|
||||
| Single by The Beatles | ||||
| B-side | "Twist and Shout" | |||
| Released | 25 June 1976 (UK) | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| The Beatles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Back in the U.S.S.R." is a song by the Beatles. It is credited to the songwriting partnership Lennon–McCartney, but written by Paul McCartney. The song opens the 1968 double-disc album The Beatles (also known as the "White Album"), and then segues into "Dear Prudence".
The song opens and closes with the sounds of a jet aircraft flying overhead and refers to a "dreadful" flight back to the U.S.S.R. from Miami Beach in the United States, on board a BOAC aeroplane. Propelled throughout by McCartney's uptempo piano playing and Harrison's 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".
Paul McCartney wrote the song while the Beatles were in Rishikesh, India, studying Transcendental Meditation. The title parodied Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A.," while the chorus and background vocals were a humorous take on the Beach Boys' "California Girls". Mike Love of the Beach Boys also attended the retreat in Rishikesh at the same time and 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. In 2013, Love noted, "I was at the breakfast table when Paul McCartney came down with his acoustic guitar playing "Back in the U.S.S.R.". I said, "You ought to put something in about all the girls around Russia," and he did."
...
Wikipedia