Sir Paul McCartney says The Beatles song ‘Back in the U.S.S.R’ was a nod to The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry.
The song, which is a parody of Berry’s 1959 hit ‘Back in the USA’, tells the story of a Russian man who is keen to return to the Soviet Union after visiting the ‘Land of the Free’.
Speaking to Paul Muldoon on the ‘McCartney: A Life in Lyrics’ podcast, Paul, 81, said that Chuck’s song was overly positive about the US and that he wanted to reverse the roles for the Soviet Union: “It’s a little bit too pro-US, cos we were in the UK, so I could poke fun at it in my own way.
“When I saw the USSR was kind of similar, then I realised I could, instead of back in the US, I could do a little parody on Chuck’s idea of being back.”
The music icon continued: “And I would have a Russian guy, who’d come from America, and was glad to be back in Russia. He’d come from Miami on BOAC (British Overseas Airways Cooperation).”
During a meditative visit to India in 1968, The Beatles ran into The Beach Boys’ Mike Love.
Meeting the music legend inspired Paul to utilise their famous harmonies in ‘Back in the U.S.S.R.’, as another ironic nod to American culture in a Soviet song: “They [Beach Boys] were big influences round about the time, so this, as I’m doing a parody of Chuck, and I’m doing it American [style], but it’s a Russian guy having all the sentiments.
“So I’m using stuff from The Beach Boys for the parody. So, when I’m going ‘Ukraine girls really knock me out’ I’m thinking, ‘California girls knock me out.'”
Whilst the song was a smash hit in 1968, Paul admitted the didn’t think it had stood the test of time: “I do sometimes think, particularly about this one, how amazingly ancient all the ideas are.
“Now, there isn’t a USSR anymore, there isn’t a BOAC, and I often wonder, like you [Muldoon] didn’t get it, I don’t think the kids get it. I’m not sure they know what the USSR was. It’s just a Rock ‘n’ Roll song.”