‘Back in the USSR’: How The Beatles critiqued Cold War tensions
The Beatles have always been about bringing people together in some way. Even though they had their dark moments throughout their career, it’s hard to deny their intentions when half of their repertoire deals with love, peace, or a combination of the two, like ‘All You Need is Love’. They did have their tongue-in-cheek moments, though, and when they introduced the world to the warped world of their double album, Paul McCartney did get a few cheap shots in at Russia on ‘Back in the USSR’.
Then again, the Fab Four were only beginning to throw their hat into the ring regarding social issues. John Lennon had busted the door wide open with ‘Revolution’, and even though it was cloaked in a metaphor, Macca did at least put some different pieces of race relations throughout the tune ‘Blackbird’ as well.
As opposed to the overt political material, though, ‘Back in the USSR’ is 100% satire based on the kind of rock and roll that McCartney imagined would have gone on over there. Compared to the kind of anthems that he had been pumping out, like ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Hello Goodbye’, this is the hardest that McCartney had rocked in some time, down to him annihilating the performance behind the drumkit.
In terms of lyrics, though, McCartney was toeing the line of decency if you realise what was going on. This was still a period when the Cold War was starting to become a serious issue, and hearing an English musician play off of the stereotypes of the USSR, like keeping one’s comrade warm and hearing balalaikas ringing out, could have hit a sour note if done the wrong way.
But in this case, this wasn’t meant to be a firm critique by any stretch of the imagination. This was the equivalent of what Chuck Berry would have sounded like if he were born in Moscow, and considering the song starts off with McCartney getting completely sick on the plane coming back from Miami Beach may have been a way of looking at how Russia views the West as well.
Most people could think that he was playing it dead straight throughout the tune, but by the time the background singers come in, it’s clear that the whole thing is a joke. After throwing in some Beach Boys-style harmonies at the suggestion of Mike Love, hearing what sounds like John Lennon playing up his best doo-wop voice was the kind of lightheartedness that proved that The White Album sessions weren’t all bad, either.
And it’s not like McCartney ever had a problem with the country on principle. By the time that the tensions ha started to settle in the 1980s, McCartney even extended a musical hand of friendship by naming a Russian-exclusive release after the song, which featured doing a multitude of covers from his old-time rock and roll days.
But beyond being a lighthearted romp on The White Album, ‘Back in the USSR’ should prove that McCartney was as adventurous as Lennon could, and maybe even more so. It would take years before Lennon got as blunt as possible on records like Some Time in New York City, and yet McCartney was ready to put the USSR right there in the title of his song before The Beatles decided to call it quits.
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