Paul McCartney – “Back In The USSR” Live

You Don’t Know How Lucky You Are Boys!

“Back in the U.S.S.R.” was written by Paul McCartney and released on November 22, 1968 for The Beatles’ ninth studio album which is also known as “White Album.” This track was penned while they were in India learning all about Transcendental Meditation. It served as a tribute to a Chuck Berry classic hit in 1959 “Back in the U.S.A.” The song features McCartney’s lead guitar riffs along with his uptempo piano playing.

The song opens and closes with the sounds of a jet aircraft flying overhead and refers to a “dreadful” flight back to the U.S.S.R. from Miami Beach in the United States, on board a BOAC aeroplane.

At the time, McCartney was the one mainly on drums along with some contributions from both John Lennon and George Harrison since Ringo Starr walked out and told everyone that he was quitting. During the recording, they did five takes and decided that the last one was the best. It took a total of two days with Lennon playing bass and Harrison taking on the lead guitar.

According to The Moscow Times, when McCartney finally got to play the song at his Back in the World tour in Moscow’s Red Square in May 2003 at the age of 60 “the crowd went wild”. When asked about the song before the concert McCartney said he had known little about the Soviet Union when he wrote it. “It was a mystical land then,” he said. “It’s nice to see the reality. I always suspected that people had big hearts. Now I know that’s true.” “Finally we got to do that one here,” he said after the song.

As always, Paul McCartney wowed that audience!