1965 and 1968 each new effort by either band spurred the other on to greater heights. When Brian Wilson heard Rubber Soul , he reported that it blew his mind to hear an album of such variety and consistency. “It flipped me out so much,” he said, “that I determined to try the same thing – to make an entire album that was a gas.” His reply was Pet Sounds , the Beach Boys’ crowning achievement, which contained ‘Sloop John B’, ‘Caroline No’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ and ‘God Only Knows’. When Paul heard Pet Sounds , he was equally impressed and the influence could be heard on Revolver and Sgt Pepper.
Although they admired each other, the two groups had little social contact. Carl Wilson and Mike Love had seen the Beatles play in Portland, Oregon, on August 22, 1965, and called by the dressing room after the show. Brian Johnson had been present at the Waldorf Hotel in London when John and Paul were played a pressing of Pet Sounds in April 1966 and in April 1967, Paul dropped by the studios in LA where Brian Wilson was working on the Beach Boys track ‘Vegetables’.
The most prolonged contact came in February 1968, when all four Beatles and their partners travelled to Rishikesh, India, to study Transcendental Meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. On the course were three other professional musicians – Scottish singer Donovan, American flautist Paul Horn and Beach Boy Mike Love. The musicians spent a great deal of time together talking, jamming and songwriting.
One of the songs that came out of this encounter was ‘Back In The USSR’, written by Paul as a pastiche of the Beach Boys andChuck Berry. The genesis of the song was a comment made by Love to Paul one morning over breakfast. “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a Soviet version of ‘Back In The USA’,” Love suggested, referring to Berry’s jingoistic 1959 single in which the singer expressed how mighty glad he was to be back home in civilized America with its cafes, drive-ins, skyscrapers, hamburgers and juke boxes. The Beach Boys had earlier drawn on this song and Berry’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’ for their tracks ‘California Girls’ and ‘Surfin’ USA’, in which they extolled the virtues of local ladies and surf beaches.
Paul acted on Love’s suggestion and came up with a parody that did for the USSR what Berry had done for the USA and for Soviet women what the Beach Boys had done for the girls of California. After a decade of songs which had made poetry out of the names of places such as Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans, it was striking to hear Moscow mentioned in rock’n’roll. “I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if it was California,” said Paul. As a tribute to Love, the Beatles’ eventual recording imitated the vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys.
In a radio interview given in November 1968 Paul said, “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.”
‘Back In The USSR’ disturbed conservative Americans, because at a time of Cold War and conflict in Vietnam it appeared to becelebrating the enemy. Having admitted to drug-taking, were these long-haired boys now embracing communism? American anti-rock campaigner David A Noebel, author of Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles , while unable to produce their party membership cards, was sure that they were furthering the cause of revolutionary socialism. “John Lennon and the Beatles were an integral part of the revolutionary milieu and received high marks from the Communist press,” he wrote, “especially for the White Album which contained ‘Back In The USSR’ and ‘Piggies’. One line from ‘Back In The USSR’ left the anti-Communists speechless: ‘You don’t know how lucky you
Although they admired each other, the two groups had little social contact. Carl Wilson and Mike Love had seen the Beatles play in Portland, Oregon, on August 22, 1965, and called by the dressing room after the show. Brian Johnson had been present at the Waldorf Hotel in London when John and Paul were played a pressing of Pet Sounds in April 1966 and in April 1967, Paul dropped by the studios in LA where Brian Wilson was working on the Beach Boys track ‘Vegetables’.
The most prolonged contact came in February 1968, when all four Beatles and their partners travelled to Rishikesh, India, to study Transcendental Meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. On the course were three other professional musicians – Scottish singer Donovan, American flautist Paul Horn and Beach Boy Mike Love. The musicians spent a great deal of time together talking, jamming and songwriting.
One of the songs that came out of this encounter was ‘Back In The USSR’, written by Paul as a pastiche of the Beach Boys andChuck Berry. The genesis of the song was a comment made by Love to Paul one morning over breakfast. “Wouldn’t it be fun to do a Soviet version of ‘Back In The USA’,” Love suggested, referring to Berry’s jingoistic 1959 single in which the singer expressed how mighty glad he was to be back home in civilized America with its cafes, drive-ins, skyscrapers, hamburgers and juke boxes. The Beach Boys had earlier drawn on this song and Berry’s ‘Sweet Sixteen’ for their tracks ‘California Girls’ and ‘Surfin’ USA’, in which they extolled the virtues of local ladies and surf beaches.
Paul acted on Love’s suggestion and came up with a parody that did for the USSR what Berry had done for the USA and for Soviet women what the Beach Boys had done for the girls of California. After a decade of songs which had made poetry out of the names of places such as Memphis, Chicago and New Orleans, it was striking to hear Moscow mentioned in rock’n’roll. “I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if it was California,” said Paul. As a tribute to Love, the Beatles’ eventual recording imitated the vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys.
In a radio interview given in November 1968 Paul said, “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.”
‘Back In The USSR’ disturbed conservative Americans, because at a time of Cold War and conflict in Vietnam it appeared to becelebrating the enemy. Having admitted to drug-taking, were these long-haired boys now embracing communism? American anti-rock campaigner David A Noebel, author of Communism, Hypnotism and the Beatles , while unable to produce their party membership cards, was sure that they were furthering the cause of revolutionary socialism. “John Lennon and the Beatles were an integral part of the revolutionary milieu and received high marks from the Communist press,” he wrote, “especially for the White Album which contained ‘Back In The USSR’ and ‘Piggies’. One line from ‘Back In The USSR’ left the anti-Communists speechless: ‘You don’t know how lucky you
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