Back In The U.S.S.R.

The story of this song begins in Hrishikesh, India, where The Beatles were on a retreat learning Transcendental Meditation from their guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Also on the retreat was Mike Love of The Beach Boys, who told us: "Paul (McCartney) came down to the breakfast table one morning saying, 'Hey, Mike, listen to this.' And he starts strumming and singing, 'Back in the U.S.S.R.,' the verses. And I said, 'Well, Paul, what you ought to do is talk about the girls around Russia, Ukraine girls and then Georgia on my mind, and that kind of thing.' Which he did.

So I think it was the fact I was there, which caused Paul to think in terms of Beach Boys, and then my suggestion for what to do on the bridge, he took that suggestion and crafted, like only Sir Paul can, a really great song."

McCartney was impressed with the idea and used some Beach Boys' elements in this song: Instead of "California Girls" it was "Moscow Girls." Plus, the definitive Beach Boy "Oooeeeeoooo" in the background harmonies.

The title was inspired by Chuck Berry's "Back In The U.S.A." The Beach Boys had been influenced by that song and also "Sweet Little Sixteen" to come up with "California Girls" and "Surfin' U.S.A."

Paul stated in 1968, "In my mind it's just about a (Russian) spy who's been in America for a long time and he's become very American but when he gets back to the USSR he's saying, 'Leave it 'til tomorrow to unpack my case, Honey, disconnect the phone.' and all that, but to Russian women."

Things were tense when they were working on this album, and Ringo walked out during recording, briefly quitting the band. Paul McCartney played drums in his place.

The Beatles originally wrote this for wafer-thin actress and model Twiggy.

The line "Georgia's always on my mind" in a play on the Ray Charles song "Georgia On My Mind." It has a double meaning, since Georgia was part of the U.S.S.R.

Elton John performed this song when he toured Russia in 1979, and he got a huge response. This was the year before Moscow hosted the Summer Olympics, which the United States boycotted. Elton told Q magazine: "The first night as an encore I did 'Back In The USSR.' And they went apes--t. It was like playing 'Philadelphia Freedom' in Philadelphia. You just noticed that the people there were as ordinary and as good as the people you'd notice anywhere else."

Billy Joel got a similar reaction when he played the song in Moscow in 1987.

This song caused a controversy with conservative America, because it came out during Vietnam and the Cold War and it appeared to be celebrating the enemy.

This opens with the sound of an airplane flying from left to right across the speakers. Stereo was relatively new, so this was very innovative for the time.

On August 22, 1968, following an argument with McCartney over the drum part for this song, Ringo walked out on The Beatles. He flew to Sardinia for a holiday to consider his future. While there he received a telegram from his bandmates saying, 'You're the best rock 'n' roll drummer in the world.  Come on home, we love you.' On his return, he found his drum kit covered with flowers. A banner above read, 'Welcome Back.'

Paul McCartney told Mojo magazine October 2008 that the song's middle-eight was a spoof of the Beach Boys leading up to Pet Sounds. He added: "The rest is (sings first bars of the melody line of the opening verse) more Jerry Lee (Lewis). And the title is Chuck Berry, Back In The U.S.A., and the song itself is more a take on Chuck. You'd get these soldiers back from Korea or Vietnam, wherever the hell, and Chuck was picking up on that. I thought it was a funny idea to spoof that with the most unlikely thing of way back in Siberia."

There was a rumor in the Soviet Union that The Beatles had secretly visited the U.S.S.R. and given a private concert for the children of top Communist party members. 

They believed the song was written because of the concert. Actually, some fans still believe so.

Paul McCartney used this as the title to an album he released only in Russia in 1989. In 2002, McCartney called his US tour the "Back In The US" tour.