Music Blog

State, Country Or Place, Oh My!

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Song Lyric Sunday –
“Geographical Areas”.
This is my response to the challenge.

© Europosters.eu

Over at Jim Adams’ always entertaining Song Lyric Sunday, the theme this week is “Geographical Areas”. Our challenge? To write about a song that mentions a State, a Country or a Place as suggested by our friend, Di at pensitivity101. Thanks, Di!

My original plan this week was to feature three songs, one for each category in the challenge: State, Country, Place. Then I realized I didn’t have to do all that because I already had one song lined up that met all the requirements … and what a cool song it is!

Let’s start with a little background. In 1968, the Beatles traveled to Rishikesh in Northern India to escape the pressures of fame for a while and learn about transcendental meditation. The trip was uniquely productive for Paul McCartney who claimed to have written 15 songs during his five-week stay. 

One of those songs was “Back in the U.S.S.R.”, the opening track on the Beatles 1968 double album, The Beatles, AKA the White Album. It is a tongue-in-cheek parody of American R&R … Chuck Berry’s “Back in the U.S.A.” and the Beach Boys’ “California Girls” … written from the perspective of a Russian spy returning home after a long mission in The States, celebrating his homeland with ironic references to Soviet life and Russian women, while also subtly acknowledging Western freedoms. It’s a spoof on American patriotism, swapping it for a Russian context and featuring a play on words about Cold War life such as phone tapping and collective farming. While seeming pro-Soviet, the song also subtly praises Western freedoms by highlighting what the spy misses, or what the listener takes for granted. 

Here’s an interesting piece of trivia: Drums on “Back in the U.S.S.R.” were primarily played by Paul McCartney, with additional drumming by George Harrison and John Lennon,  after a frustrated and overlooked Ringo Starr stormed out of the White Album recording sessions. McCartney laid down the main beat, but the final track features a “composite” of takes, with all three members credited for drums. Ringo felt his musicianship and drumming skills were unappreciated; however, I think Ringo was vindicated when three Beatles were needed to do the work of one.

I mentioned earlier that my featured song contains words for all three prompts mentioned in the challenge. Let’s see what those words are: 1) State: “Georgia” and “Ukraine” are both sovereign states as well as countries. “Georgia” is also the name of a state in the United States; 2) Country: U.S.S.R, U.S., Ukraine, and Georgia;  3) Place: Miami Beach, place, home, the West, Moscow, mountains, South, and farm. Please let me know if I missed any.

So, were the Beatles making a pro-Soviet political statement, or were they just poking innocent fun at western idealism? Let’s have a listen to this iconic song.

This is “Back In The U.S.S.R.” by The Beatles

LYRICS

Well, yeah
Woo!
Ooh

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 ’til 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

Oh, come on!
Woo! (Hey)
Woo! (Yeah)
Woo! (Yeah)
Hell, yeah

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.

Oh, let me tell you, honey
Hey, I’m back
I’m back In the U.S.S.R.
Hey, it’s so good to be home
Yeah, back In the U.S.S.R.

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Paul Mccartney/John Lennon
Back in the U.S.S.R. lyrics © Sony/atv Tunes Llc, Mpl Communications Inc

Geographical Areas

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week and to Di for her suggestion. Be sure to follow the links and check out their sites.

Thanks for stopping by for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote, kids. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

36 thoughts on “State, Country Or Place, Oh My!”

  3. Nancy, Back in the USSR is one fine tune and I’m glad you chose it and shared interesting bits of trivia on it. So interesting about “how many Beatles does it take to do a drum section on a White Album song?” I’m watching The Beatles Anthology series on Disney+ and in the first episode it goes into detail on how Ringo became their permanent drummer.

    The intro to it is like no other. The musical style fits the gently ribbing lyrics.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. It’s really a great song and you know immediately by the intro which song it is. The drum part isn’t terribly demanding; I think if any of the other Beatles tried to fill in for Ringo in another song, let’s say “The End” or “Helter Skelter”, they would have failed miserably. Ringo is a damn good drummer. Enjoy the anthology; it’s a real eye-opening program. Thanks for some great comments, Lisa. I appreciate them.

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  9. I love your choice for today; Nancy and I could listen to this song all day. The White Album was the first album I got after I bought my new stereo and every song on it is great. I didn’t know the story about Ringo, and I appreciate you sharing that.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. So true about the White Album, Jim, but I’m a little biased when it comes to the Beatles. 😂 That golden nugget about Ringo is too good not to share. I bet plenty of artists stormed out of recording sessions. Thanks for another great challenge and a lovely comment.

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  12. In all the times I have heard this song, I never noticed the play on the Beach Boy’s lyrics until you pointed it out to me today. Sometimes I wonder whose ears I have been listing with! Great write up, as always, Nancy.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. I don’t think it’s so unusual; it’s very easy to think of them is just another set of clever lyrics. That’s what makes a Song Lyric Sunday so much fun, that we can learn so many things about old favorite songs or songs we never heard before. Thanks for a great comment, Jodi, and thanks to Jim for keeping Song Lyric Sunday going strong!

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  13. Great post! 😎👏 Paul is such a gifted musician, I’ve seen him in concert. I was reading a book by their recording engineer Goeff Emerick… really interesting. The bridge in George’s song “tax man” with the guitar solo is evidently very difficult…. take after take with no luck… finally Goeff or maybe George Martin asked Paul if he’d have a go… nails it on only a take or two.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks for sharing that very interesting piece of information, Darryl. Tax Man is a great song …. could be my favorite George song; with this info, I’ll probably never listen to it the same way again. Thanks for stopping by. I’m very glad to know you enjoyed my post.

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