‘Come And Keep Your Comrade Warm . . .’

 by whiteray

The idea of my creating a list of my five favorite singles had never occurred to me until after I joined the on-line world in early 2000. I became a regular at several music boards, and a few years later, a member at one of them asked the rest of us what our five favorite singles would be. I answered, as I’ve written here in the last month-plus: 

“Cherish” by the Association
“We” by Shawn Phillips
“Summer Rain” by Johnny Rivers
“Long, Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt 

And I stopped. What, I wondered, was a record so good that it could compete with those four? And I remembered a 2002 concert: Paul McCartney doing hits from his solo career, from his time with Wings, and of course, from his world-changing time with the Beatles. 

As the strains of “Something” faded that evening (McCartney performed the George Harrison song as a tribute to his late bandmate), the Texas Gal and I stood – as did everybody – cheering and wondering which gem came next. Then, from the huge speakers seemingly everywhere came the sound of a jet airplane. 

“Yes! Yes!” I hollered. “Yes!” And McCartney and his band romped into “Back In The U.S.S.R.” as I stood there with a huge smile on my face, swaying to a song I’d not anticipated hearing that night. Midway through the song, I noticed motion at the edge of my vision and then saw the Texas Gal wipe a tear away from her eye. 

I asked her about it later. “I’d never seen you so happy,” she said. 

I thought about that as I pondered my fifth favorite single to list at the music board. “Back In The U.S.S.R.” was never released as a single (nor was any other track from the 1968 album The Beatles, informally called the White Album). It’s an interesting parlor game to wonder how “Back In The U.S.S.R.” would have done had it been released as a single. 

Its title and chorus would have made things difficult. A friend of mine told me of his attempts to explain the track to group of miffed adults (at, I think, a public meeting discussing the subversive qualities of rock music). “I tried to tell them that the Beatles were, kind of, mocking Russia,” he told me many years later. “They didn’t want to listen.” 

So I sat at my computer back in about 2003, thinking about several things: my fifth favorite single, what it was the Beatles had in mind when they recorded “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, and how would the track have done had it been released as a single. 

As to what the group had in mind, McCartney told Playboy magazine in 1984 (as reported in William J. Dowlding’s 1989 book Beatlesongs): “I wrote that as a kind of Beach Boys parody. And “Back In The U.S.A.” was a Chuck Berry song, so it kinda took off from there.” 

You can dig into it a bit more, but at base, that’s what the song is: A Chuck Berry/Beach Boys pastiche/tribute, with its lyrics offering standard Russian tropes: balalaikas, pretty girls, snow-peaked mountains, the use of the word “comrade.” Of course, the fact that the song might piss off older folks was probably an added attraction. As to how it would have done as a single, that’s anyone’s guess, except it would have made news. 

So I wrote at the music board that if the Beatles had ever released “Back In The U.S.S.R.” as a single, it would be my all-time No. 5. Now, I do have a legit No. 5, and we’ll deal with that next week. But for today, here’s the Beatles’ “Back In The U.S.S.R.” 

Oh, flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C.
Didn't get to bed last night
On the way the paper bag was on my knee
Man, I had a dreadful flight
I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.S.R.

Been away so long, I hardly knew the place
Gee, it’s good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey, disconnect the phone
I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.
Back in the U.S.
Back in the U.S.S.R.

Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia’s always on
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind

Hey, I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boys
Back In the U.S.S.R.

Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Georgia’s always on
My, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind

Oh, show me ’round your snow-peaked mountains way down south
Take me to your daddy’s farm
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the U.S.S.R.
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the U.S.S.R.