The Beatles - Back In The USSR | First Time Reaction!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ม.ค. 2025
- What in the world is a moon baby and what does it have to do with The Beatles? MCA+ is back with another Beatles' song but first gives DJ a lesson in what the USSR is, sort of.
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Years later, Paul McCartney's band performed this song in Moscow's Red Square to a Russian audience - there's a vid of it somewhere. I believe it went down rather well
Putin was in it, right? I saw that
@@GetSidewaysReacts - I honestly can't remember, I only saw a bit of it, once, years ago - but I wouldn't be surprised
@@GetSidewaysReacts He played the song twice because the first time, Putin hadn't yet arrived, and then he played it again when he knew that Putin was in the audience....He also privately played "Let it Be" for Putin when he was invited into The Kremlin.
There's also an interview of Putin admitting he of course purchased an illegal bootleg Beatles record
To lots of young Russian people the Beatles were the sound of freedom they would listen to bootleg copies as western pop music was banned
Beatles songs were highly dangerous to have in the USSR. They had the record grooves etched in medical x-rays so that they could passed around and not be obvious.
Beatles helped take the Berlin wall down. Russian gov was scared of their influence. They love them still just like us!!
They realized you could burn copies of Beatle songs on x-ray film which also sold in the Russian underground black market.
Beatles: top selling musicians of all time. This was Paul's parody of the Beach Boys' California Girls using a bit of their style. The funny aspect is no one in hell would vacation in the USSR for various reasons. Paul played many of the instruments on this one.
Bernie celebrated his honeymoon there.
@@Appleholic1 Well, his politics were similar to theirs.
"no one in hell would vacation in the USSR" Really? Comrade Bernie Sanders honeymooned in the USSR.
@@jeffdrazin5514 Appleholic 1 already said that.
Yes. This is a crucial point that he should know in understanding this song. He should have heard the Beach Boys song first and the story to understand it.
Oh yes!!! More Beatles reactions!!
Great reaction. I like how you are teaching this young man about the greatest music ever. keep it up.
The Beatles were influenced by Chuck Berry. This song was their homage to Chuck for his song Back In The USA.
The Beatles were influenced by loads of musicians. And they influenced loads of musicians. This song was a reply to The Beach Boys California Girls as you can clearly hear
@@personalcheeses8073 Its both. A homage and parody of both The Beach Boys and Chuck Berry.
Everyone was influenced by Chuck Berry and Little Richard who invented rock and roll.
The Beatles were the first western band to perform behind the Iron Curtain. They opened the door for all other western bands who followed their lead.
Beatles never played behind the iron curtain? Beach Boys did though?
They played a few times in front of a curtain at the Iron Door club in Liverpool but never set foot in Russia.
This is all about the Beach Boys. It’s a musical pastiche of them with a USSR rather than a USA theme. It’s British comedy and an amazing song. The middle eight harmonies are the key.
Apparently when this song was released one American guy said to their faces that this was 'anti-american'. John just said 'well that's very perceptive of you'.
The interview may still be floating around here. Before the White Album, when the Beatles were still touring a reporter said to John, "Some people say your music is un-American."
John replied, "That's very perceptive. We're not Americans."
I love that
@@brachiator1 You know that album is actually called The Beatles not The White Album
un-American not anti-American. The quote only makes sense if it's un-American lol
@@personalcheeses8073 Everybody, I mean EVERYBODY calls it the 'White Album!
This song is an homage to Chuck Berry and The Beach Boys. Paul wrote it from the perspective of a young Soviet guy returning home; what would he feel and think about. It's about how we are really more alike than different. Paul played part of it for Brian Wilson, who suggested adding the part about the different girls he missed.
Beatles are great. It used to be a thing that people got so into them they would get kind of lost.
Still is.
IM STILL LOST
@@hoodatdare7039
I’m still lost but I never want to be found 😜
Truth
The Beatles.
Biggest rabbit hole in music.
Something great for everyone as they expertly covered pretty much every genre.
You'll have a great journey with these boys.
Try one thats not obvious like Hey Bulldog (mean bassline) or Magical Mystery Tour or I'm Only Sleeping or,damn,ANY of them.
Best and most important band in history,always will be.
They started it all.
Unfortunately, TH-cam keeps taking our Beatles’ reactions down.
I like you Guys and enjoyed your reaction.
Almost every one of the 30 tracks was totally different from that Album.
Did you get the joke about " That Georgia's Always On My Mind".
Georgia being a Soviet State then and, as you know, a Girls name and the song by Ray Charles was "Georgia On My Mind" referring to THe USA State.....About 4 jokes in one :)
Here's another one, "Georgia" can easily be (mis)pronounced as "Chocha", a Puerto Rican expression meaning, "pussy" (not the feline variety)...
Back in the USSR
recording in 1968
side A track 1
(opening track)
from "Double White Album"
THE BEATLES
Paul McCartney sing it in your Tours and Concerts
(included in Rusia)
I saw the red square version!
The song poked fun at Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA" and the Beach Boys "California girls" because they were kind of bragging that we live in the greatest country ever. Which to people in other countries is a little arrogant. So, they made up a song for the USSR to say, hey every country is special to the people who live there, USA isn't the greatest. It only seems that way because you live there. That's my interpretation anyway.
It was only John and Paul laying down the tracks. Paul played the drums on this song.
George was on the track playing electric guitar. John was playing a Fender bass, Paul on drums.
Good to see a young generation listening to the good stuff, the music I grew up with.
♥ this song & album!
Beachboy Mike Love was in India with the Beatles in 1968, and out of that came a suggestion for a song, with a nod to the Beach Boys AND Chuck Berry's 'Back in the USA' (from 1959) but with a USSR twist. The Beatles and the Beach Boys had had a friendly rivalry for several years already.
The Beach Boys parody in the middle is because the whole song is Paul's ironic response to their California Girls song. CCCP is Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (Soyuz Sovietskich Sotsialistichecich Republic) and for the record, Paul is absolutely correct about Ukrainian girls ;-)
Most of the song is a take on Chuck Berry's Back in the USA. (Yeah, we're so glad we're living in the USA. Anything you want, we got it right here in the USA.) Great song.
Ukraine women are the worlds most beautiful.
Ah! CCCP! I always heard it as “BOAC” - the popular airline at that time.
@@robertsmith1860 There is the line "Flew in from Miami Beach, BOAC".
@@debjorgo Yes they loved Chuck and lots of other musicians. But this is a clear response to California Girls
Thank you for your historical excursion. Not many people now know the meaning of USSR and another words.
During the two weeks before the release of "The Beatles" ("White" LP), the local FM station played all four sides of the LP, every weekday night, without commercials. The only other thing was the DJ announcing the changing of LP sides.
Then it was all played at random after and during those weekends.
Apart from all the other points that people have made, there was a 'Backing Britain' government campaign in the UK, at the time this was written. This was something of a parody of both that AND the Beach Boys surfin, 'all American' style. :)
The Beales and Beach Boys had a lot of respect and admiration for each other and were always trying to outdo each other
They're music was banned in the USSR as it was in all communist countries. I always believed they wrote this to get their records into Russia
I was 19 at that time...sigh! Thank you from Italy!
Prego
Mccartney on drums and lead guitar?
There was no direct travel between the USA and the USSR in those decades. Special clearance had to be obtained by USA citizens. "B O A C" is "British Overseas Airway Corporation". To fly from Miami (or most any other US city, BOAC was one of the carriers who'd take you. AirFrance was another... Netherlands (KLM - I think)... the Russian civilian airlines was (is) Aeroflot, and they were restricted to a few US airports. Dulles at WashDC for diplomats and spies, and LaGuardia-NYC for United Nations, ambassadors and more spies. "Bag on the knee" is a reference to the inflight 'barf bag' which was a not-always waterproof bag that looks like fold-over coffee beans bag.
The best band ever!!!
The song is a parody of Chuck Berry's Back In The U.S.A. Paul was a fan of the Beach Boys.
The Beach Boys Album "Pet Sounds" and the single "Good Vibrations" was the inspiration for Sgt. Peppers.
The phrase in the song, "Georgia's always on my mind" is a tribute to Ray Charles.
It was 'The Beatles' imitating 'The Beach Guys' imitating 'Chuck Berry'. Song, "Sweet Little Sixteen"
The Beatles were (are) great.
This was a parody of the Beach boys " Californian girls "
It takes the part of a USSR agent or diplomat (same thing) who has been based outside USSR going home to his family and friends. As a tribute/parody to/of Chuck Berry and Beach Boys plus realising that people from all countries might want to 'get back home' to be with loved ones, whatever the regime, it's pretty clever and mature
I think a reference to Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A.," as well as several Beach Boys' "travelogue" hits, like "California Girls" and "Amusement Parks U.S.A.," which name drop several American cities throughout the lyrics, might provide even deeper context for the basis and structure of the song, which was written in the midst of the ultimately violent anti-Vietnam upheaval in the United States, leading up to the Democratic Convention riots in Chicago in the summer of '68, which occurred just before this song was recorded and a few months before The Beatles (a.k.a. the "White Album") was released. It's ultimately a parody song, which takes a bit of a dig at the U.S.' perceived post-World War II global superiority/perfectionism at a time when that perception was being tested and proven quite strained, if not simply a matter of political rhetoric not unlike what was issuing from the Soviet Union.
Where was CCCP??.They sang “flew in from Miami Beach BOAC.....That was a British Airline .BOAC..British Overseas Air Corporation
That is Paul McCartney's hand writing you see in some of the lyrics shown in the video, as he wrote the song. The background vocals were a nod to the Beach Boys....oooooo. ooooo. ooooooo and "Bah bah bah"
Lead off song on The White Album. Great opener!
Paul McCartney reported that when they were with the Maharishi in Indian, Mike Love from the Beach Boys half jokingly suggested that he write a Beach Boys style song, so he went away and did it.
I forgot how smoking this song is
Because of the plane sound I always have to hear this song when I’m landing on a plane.
The Beatles made a typical Beach Boys song, except from the point of view of a Russian, as a joke. There was probably also an intended reference to Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA."
"Moon baby" or space shot?
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
That’s it
Nice to see you for first time
I'm 63, an old BEATLES fan
and love your reaction
I only could see Paul McCartney when he comes to my country Argentina the last time two years ago
And was so amazing
Paul was singing (with his band) five songs from the "Doble Album":
Blackbird
Birthday
Helter Skelter
Obladi Oblada
and
Back in the USSR
this is the link from Buenos Aires:
th-cam.com/video/biTlWIBE6fE/w-d-xo.html
I will like to see your reaction to 'Birthday" (from the same album)
and in another moment I suggest You other BEATLES song (or solo carers) to reaction
See you next time
Stay safe and be careful
Give my regards from...
Buenos Aires Argentina
I have a few years on you. I am 67 and have been a Beatles fan since I was 10
To really add to the irony, the back up vocals were done by the Beach Boys. They met through transcendental meditation
I think the "Beach Boy" homages in the song were in regards to the song I Wish they all Could be California Girls. The Beatles were fans of the Beach Boys (though for my money, while the Beach Boys were known for their harmonies, The Beatles could math them without a problem).
Great song of course.
Not sure about the guy doing the 'David Brent, from The Office' impersonation.
I think for me the holy grail of record collecting would be to get this single as samizdat copied in the Soviet Union on to a "vinyl" cut out of a x-ray picture. I find that way of pirating records one of the coolest in history.
Surely Beach Boys sound. There was a friendly rivalry between Beatles and Beach Boys. The Pet Songs Album (Beach Boys) was inspired by the Rubber Soul Album (Beatles). And Pet Songs again inspired the Beatles for the Sgt. Peppers Album.
"Moon baby" or "space shot"?
It’s not a parody. It’s a f.... great song
No contradiction here :D
Damn right. Such a great song!
Its also sort of parody of Chuck Berry's song Back to the USA.....its an irony because the USSR was not a place that We in the West thought was fun. I was playing bass in a band in my second year in college. I bought the LP as soon as it came out, Me and one of the singers in the band listen to the whole album in a sound room used as a language speech lab which Jeffrey worked. We used to play Obladi Oblada from that album. th-cam.com/video/23y2Cz40zs4/w-d-xo.html
"Back in the U.S.S.R." was inspired by Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." and the bridge was a takeoff on the Beach Boys' "California Girls" (reportedly at the suggestion of Beach Boys member Mike Love), so it's not surprising that you hear the Beatles "going all Beach Boys" in the middle of the song. According to Wikipedia, "McCartney said the song ... was written from the point of view of a Russian spy returning home to the USSR after an extended mission in the United States." One other interesting Chuck Berry/Beach Boys connection is that Brian Wilson plagiarized the melody of "Sweet Little Sixteen" for the Beach Boys hit song, "Surfin' U.S.A.," but eventually, Berry was given the rights to the song and is now credited as co-writer, along with Wilson. (Mike Love claims to have co-written the lyrics with Wilson, but isn't officially credited.)
The Beach Boys didn't know if they were flattered or pissed off because of this song.
Sebebar nya beatles telah terlihat
Hard rock nya dalam lagu : get back. Back ussr.
Sexy sady happynes is warm gun
Oh darling itu katagori slow rock
Hanya saja direkam sblom th 1970
Also McCartney was making a jokey reference to Chuck Berry's Back in the USA with the song. Instead of the USA, he made it about the USSR.
Paul McCartney on Drums due to Ringo's temporarily walking out. The Beatles were about trying to bring people together and make people realise there are very few differences between us.The people aren't your enemy the Propagandist Leaders are. I lived through that era and the Tension during the Cold War was intense and it badly needed someone to lighten the tension.
In this "The Beatles" outdo "the Beach Boys'" harmonies, and incorporate Chuck Berry ("Back in the USA") and Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind".
This song was more of a response, of sorts, to the Beach Boys' 'Back In The USA', which is why there was the harmonies being mimicked in the bridge.
I think they miss the joke if they haven't heard California Girls first. The whole thing is a slap in the face to Beachboys and USA in general.
@@bobsapsford7526 Since the beach Boys were McCartney's favorite band, I would say that it's more of an homage...
Paul's lyrics are in green marker.
Bonus Trivia Time:
What does B.O.A.C. stand for?
British Overseas Airways Corp
@@GetSidewaysReacts You are correct!!
This song is a tongue in cheek response to Chuck Berry's Back In The U.S.A.
Clever word play
Georgia (is always) on my mind) =
1) A Soviet State
2) A girl’s name
3) A much loved American Song by Ray Charles
4) Misprnounced as "chocha" which means "pussy" in certain Spanish dialects...
The song also was a response to the beach boys back in the USA
The song is a parody of the beach boys. The beach boys always sang about california, so the beatles swapped USSR for california.
More a nod of respect and recognition. Both bands had mad respect for the other and were constantly trying to top each other in the harmonies department.
This was both a parody song (because, honestly, who would really WANT to be in the USSR at that time?) AND a reply to a Beach Boys song, "California Girls".
"Flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C"....BOAC was British Overseas Airway Corp...now known simply as British Airways. This is a parody of the Beach Boys song "California Girls"
Babies born at that time (myself included) were called "Lunar babies".
USSR stands for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. You are correct, it's from the WHITE ALBUM. By the way, "GEORGIA ON MY MIND" was an actual song made very popular in the '60s by Ray Charles which was about the U.S. state of Georgia. So that is why some people think that they are singing about the US state, but they weren't
You will also hear "let me hear your "BALALAIKA's ringing out...." which is a Russian stringed musical instrument
It's a spoof of Chuck Berry's classic rock n roll song 'Back In The U.S.A.'
BOAC=British Overseas Airways Corporation, the UK’s international flag carrier, which merged with the UK’s domestic flag carrier to form British Airways.
This was, in part, a parody of Beach Boys songs like California Girls and Surfin’ Safari.
I heard that this was the Beatles reply to the Beach Boys hit California girls, do not how true that is
I'm Luvin the Mentor to Little Grasshopper ENLIGHTENMENT going on, it gives the Student some perspective of the TIMES
Too bad his teacher is 50% clueless and 50% forgetful. 😝
@@GetSidewaysReacts LOLOL
When you write "CCCP" you have to pronounce "SSSR" because the character "C" is the equivalente of "S" in the Latin alphabet and the character "P" is the letter "R".
It's really a funny song. Who wanted to be back in USSR? And keep your "comrade" warm"? I love the Beatles. I guess world history doesn't matter anymore. So many ignorant people.
Kicks off the White Album. Written when the Beatles and some members of the Beach Boys were in India.
Nice Strat.
The frantic piano sounds like Lennon's humor.
I WAS 15 WHEN THE WHITE ALBUM CAME OUT PLAY BIRTHDAY OR ROCKY OR WHILE MY GITARE GENTLY WEAPS
Or...."Happiness is a Warm Gun" or "Everybody Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" or "Helter Skelter" or "I Will" of "Blackbird" .....or, or, or. One of the greatest albums of all time for me!
We reacted to Helter Skelter, yesterday 02/21. Did you see it?
The USSR banned Beatles music. Peopld were imprisoned for bootlegging the Beatles music, so the Beatles wrote this to open the USSR to western music
Fun cool great tune...done by the best in the bizzz...
You really leaving out the best FUN FACT about this song? This song Paul wrote countering Brian Wilson's Beach Boys' CALIFORNIA GIRLS! So, Beatles didn't just have a little Beach Boys mixed into BACK IN THE USSR, it was directly in response to them.
Or, an homage...
Would you try the song when I was Young by Eric burdon please
The Beatles were the first western band to perform behind the Iron Curtain!😊
One of my favorite Beatles songs great parody for several reasons first of all they did a little parody of the Beach Boys song California girls. But the biggest parody is just the fact that they imply that anyone would be happy to be back in the USSR the USSR was an oppressive socialist republic but honestly was just a communist military run dictatorship. Their economy eventually collapsed in they couldn't hold on to the countries that they had taken over after World War ii.
The 10 yr, very expensive Afghanistan war didn't help them very much, either. It's funny how the US learned nothing from that...
Recorded when the USSR was our number one enemy. JoJo refers to Joseph Stalin, probably responsible for more deaths than anyone in the 20th century. Take me to your daddy's farm refers to putting unpopular political people out to pasture, re Kruschev. BOAC refers to British Overseas Air Corporation. Balalaika refers to a Russian stringed instrument. There all done! The song is meant to be sarcastic/ironic.
I wondered what BOAC meant
From a British perspective I think its meant to be a friendly satire of Beach Boys songs, but also at a dig more at internationally pervasive 1960s American culture.
The lyrics aren't "JoJo", it's "Georgia" which is a reference two things; Georgia is a location that was forcibly incorporated into the USSR in 1921 and regained its independence when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. It is also a play on Ray Charles' song "Georgia On My Mind".
@@henriettaskolnick4445 Oops, you're right! Imagine singing it wrong all these decades. hahaha Oh well, thanks for the correction. Better late than never, I suppose.
@@gregcarpenter8128 no worries! I adore learning new things about some of my favorite songs, musicians, etc. and the Beatles are at the top of my list. Take care.
as well as a parody to the Beach Boys , (too show , we can do that music no problem to Brian Wilson) it was a socialist anthem against American Capitalism, saying 'You dont know how lucky you are' not to be Hollywood
Sorry, but Mike Love helped Paul with the song. It wasn't a parody per say, as much as a good-natured send up. And it wasn't a criticism of American capitalism. If anything, it was a slap at Russian-style secretive communism. I remember, being 16 in 1968. Don't project your imagination onto things from before you were born.
@@waynemarvin5661 How dare you presume my age I was a child of the 60's , have been to all the Beatles childhood homes, The Cavern Club, Strawberry Fields , Penny Lane , have met Pete Best , you?
@@waynemarvin5661 In a November 1968 interview for Radio Luxembourg, McCartney said the song was inspired by Berry's "Back in the U.S.A." and was written from the point of view of a Russian spy returning home to the USSR after an extended mission in the United States.[10] Mike Love of the Beach Boys, another student at the meditation retreat, recalled McCartney playing "Back in the U.S.S.R." on acoustic guitar over breakfast in Rishikesh,[11] at which point he suggested to McCartney that the bridge section should focus on the "girls" in Russia,[12][13] in the style of the Beach Boys' "California Girls".[14][nb 1] In his 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, McCartney said he wrote it as "a kind of Beach Boys parody" based around "Back in the U.S.A." He added:
I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if they were California, you know? It was also hands across the water, which I'm still conscious of. 'Cause they like us out there [in Soviet Russia], even though the bosses in the Kremlin may not.[15]
In his lyrics, McCartney transposed the patriotism of Berry's song into a Soviet context.[5] He said that he intended it to be a "spoof" on the typical American international traveller's contention that "it's just so much better back home" and their yearning for the comforts of their homeland. McCartney said that, despite the lack of such luxuries in the USSR, his Soviet traveller would "still be every bit as proud as an American would be".[12] According to author Michael Gray, "Back in the U.S.S.R." was the Beatles' sardonic comment on Berry's idealised Americana, which had become "deeply unfashionable" by the late 1960s.[16][nb 2]
U.S.S.R. is short for " union of soviet socialist republics " if anyone's wondering.
A cute song, a novelty tune, well produced and played, but hard to take serious. I really liked your play along version at the beginning, I'd actually go with that if you played the whole thing through, it's better without the silly lyrics, just straight up simple dirty guitar sounded more tuff. It seems I mostly prefer other artists versions of Beatles songs.
Was this kid ever in a history class?
The influence of drugs is blown out of proportion -- especially by those who know nothing about drugs.
What were the musical impacts of the other drugs they used -- nicotine and alcohol?
I found the intro had a patronizing air to it. Whitey feels the need to educate Blacky before things get rolling.
Well the white guy was old enough to know the background. The black guy was born after the USSR fell so he had only a vague idea of what it was about.
need to drop the square .. js
No doubt!
The first ever song about the undeniable beauty of Russian girls.
This song is a response to the Beach Boys :-)
Nice channel ,can you guys react to I Feel Fine by the Beatles official music video,thank you.
They maybe from the UK but all the beatles members support the labour party ( a left leaning party), so they all knew about socialism from an early age