Back In The U.S.S.R. chords

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Back In The U.S.S.R | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

||: E7 :|| x4
Ohh!

Verse 1

| A | D | C | D7 |
Flew in from Miami Beach B.O.A.C. Didn’t get to bed last night.
| A | D7 | C |
On the way the paper bag was on my knee, man, I had a dreadful flight,

Chorus 1

| D |
I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
| A A7 A6 | C C7 C6 | D D7 D6 |
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy.
| D N.C | A | A D D# E7 |
Back in the U.S.S.R. (Yeah!).

Verse 2

| A | D | C | D7 |
Been away so long, I hardly knew the place. Gee, it’s good to be back home.
| A | D7 | C |
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case, honey, disconnect the phone,

Chorus 2

| D |
I’m back in the U.S.S.R.
| A A7 A6 | C C7 C6 | D D7 D6 |
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy.
| D N.C | N.C | 2/4 N.C | 4/4 A | (A B C C#) |
Back in the U.S. Back in the U.S. Back in the U.S.S.R.

Bridge 1

| D | D7 |
Well, the Ukraine girls really knock me out (wooh, ooh, ooh).
| A A7 | (A B C C#) |
They leave the West behind (Da, dum, dum, dum).
| D7 A/C# | C6 B7 |
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout (wooh, ooh, ooh).
| E | D7 |
That Georgia’s always on my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my, my mind.
| A | A D D# E7 |
Oh, come on.

Solo

| A | D | C | D7 |
Woo (hey). (Hoo) Hey.
| A | D7 | C |
Woo hoo (Yeah). Yeah, yeah.

Chorus 3

| D |
Hey, I’m back In the U.S.S.R.
| A A7 A6 | C C7 C6 | D D7 D6 |
You don’t know how lucky you are, boys.
| D N.C | A | (A B C C#) |
Back In the U.S.S.R.

Bridge 2

Verse 3

| A | D | C | D7 |
Show me ’round your snow-peaked mountains way down south. Take me to your daddy’s farm.
| A | D7 | C |
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out, come and keep your comrade warm.

Chorus 4

| D |
I’m back In the U.S.S.R.
| A A7 A6 | C C7 C6 | D D7 D6 |
Hey, you don’t know how lucky you are, boys.
| D N.C | A | A D D# E7 |
Back in the U.S.S.R. Oh, let me tell you, honey.

Outro

||: A A7 A6 :||
Hey, I’m back (woo, ooh, ooh).
Hey, it’s so good to be home (Woo, ooh, ooh).
Yeah, back In the U.S.S.R.

Back In The U.S.S.R.’s chords and progressions

The chords for Back In The U.S.S.R mainly rely on the blues idea of the I – IV – V, however, the bIIIx is used instead of the V for the verse, like this:

I – IV – bIIIx – IV. In the key of A, this is A – D – C – D7.

For the chorus, we simply turn the C and D around, like this:

I – bIIIx – IV. In the key of A, this is A – D – C – D7. At the end of this section, we finally get the missing V chord as we move chromatically from D – D# – E.

The Beach Boys-influenced bridge section starts on chord IV, then goes back to chord I. D7 – A7. The chromatic ascend (A B C C#) has Beach Boys written all over it.

As we return to the IV chord, we now move in a more complex way chromatically down: D7 – A/C# – C6 – B7.

Finally, we go E – D7 – A, just like the turnaround in a standard blues.

Back In The U.S.S.R is a perfect example of how The Beatles would fuse blues, rock n roll, pop, and a political statement with humor and turn it into an unforgettable hit.

Back In The U.S.S.R is a parody song

Starting out as I’m Backing the U.K, Paul McCartney quickly changed the title to Back In The U.S.S.R and turned it into a parody of Chuck Berry’s Back In The U.S.A.

The Beach Boy’s sounding section (Ukraine girls, instead of California girls) was actually suggested to Paul by Beach Boys band member Mike Love when the two met at a retreat in India, just as Paul was finishing the song.

The final piece of the puzzle was the vocal style, influenced by Jerry Lee Lewes.

Paul used these three artists and the patriotic theme to create Back In The U.S.S.R, which is essentially a spoof song.

When it was released in 1968, patriotic ideas had started to become criticized among the cultural elite, Back In The U.S.S.R aimed to serve as a reminder that we’re all the same.

Unfortunately, the clever spoof didn’t work on everyone. When the Warsaw Pact Invasion hit later that year, and the world was reminded of the harsh reality of war and the failed ideas of communism, Back In The U.S.S.R didn’t look so clever anymore and came under a lot of criticism.