Editing Back in the U.S.S.R. (section)

==Background and inspiration==
[[Paul McCartney]] began writing the song as "I'm Backing the UK", inspired by the "[[I'm Backing Britain]]" campaign,{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=309–10}}{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}} which had gained wide national support in January 1968,<ref>{{cite news|first=Joe|last=Moran|title=Defining Moment: The 'I'm Backing Britain' campaign unites the nation, January 1968|url=https://www.ft.com/content/3573bd46-99e7-11df-a0a5-00144feab49a |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/3573bd46-99e7-11df-a0a5-00144feab49a |archive-date=10 December 2022 |url-access=subscription|newspaper=[[Financial Times]]|date=31 July 2010|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=John M.|last=Lee|title=More Overtime Helpers Enlist in the 'I'm Backing Britain' Campaign; British Backers' Widen Campaign|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1968/01/06/archives/more-overtime-helpers-enlist-in-the-im-backing-britain-campaign.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=6 January 1968|page=1|access-date=10 December 2018}}</ref> a month before [[the Beatles]] departed [[The Beatles in India|for India]] to undertake a course in [[Transcendental Meditation]].{{sfn|Quantick|2002|pp=19–20, 68}} According to author [[Ian MacDonald]], McCartney altered the title to "I'm Backing the USSR" and then, drawing on [[Chuck Berry]]'s 1959 hit song "[[Back in the U.S.A.]]", arrived at the song's eventual title.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=309–10}} [[Donovan]], the Scottish singer-songwriter who joined the Beatles in India, said that "Back in the U.S.S.R." was one of the "funny little ditties" that McCartney regularly played at the [[ashram]], adding that "of course, melodious ballads just poured out of him".{{sfn|Leitch|2005|p=210}}

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 [[Soviet Union|USSR]] after an extended mission in the United States.{{sfn|Winn|2009|p=224}} [[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,<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Mike|last=Love|title=The Ashram Where the Beatles Sought Enlightenment|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/beatles-ashram-sought-enlightenment-180967494/|magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]|date=January 2008|access-date=12 December 2018}}</ref> at which point he suggested to McCartney that the [[Bridge (music)|bridge]] section should focus on the "girls" in Russia,{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=422}}<ref name="Paytress/MojoSpecial">{{cite book|first=Mark|last=Paytress|chapter=A Passage to India|year=2003|title=[[Mojo (magazine)#Special editions|Mojo Special Limited Edition]]: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970)|location=London|publisher=Emap|page=15}}</ref> in the style of the Beach Boys' "[[California Girls]]".{{sfn|Love|2017|pp=185–86}}{{refn|group=nb|Love added: "Of course, he needed no help in writing a song, but he later acknowledged that I helped him out on the bridge. A tape still exists of he and I playing around with the song."<ref name="Paytress/MojoSpecial" />}} In his 1984 interview with ''[[Playboy]]'' magazine, McCartney said he wrote it as "a kind of Beach Boys parody" based on "Back in the U.S.A." He added:
<blockquote>I just liked the idea of [[Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic|Georgia]] girls and talking about places like [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|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.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Goodman|first=Joan|title=Playboy Interview with Paul McCartney|date=December 1984|magazine=[[Playboy]]|page=110}}</ref></blockquote>

In his lyrics, McCartney transposed the patriotism of Berry's song into a Soviet context.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=113}} 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 luxuries in the USSR, his Soviet traveller would "still be every bit as proud [of his home country] as an American would be".{{sfn|Miles|1997|p=422}} According to author [[Michael Gray (author)|Michael Gray]], "Back in the U.S.S.R." was the Beatles' [[Sardonicism|sardonic]] comment on Berry's idealised [[Americana (culture)|Americana]], which had become "deeply unfashionable" by the late 1960s.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/mar/19/chuck-berry-obituary-a-perfect-fit-of-street-talk-to-music|first=Michael|last=Gray|title=Chuck Berry obituary: 'A lively, perfect fit of street-talk to music'|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=20 March 2017|access-date=11 December 2018}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|In 2003, when he played his first concert in Russia, McCartney described the song as "a pisstake on Chuck Berry's 'Back in the USA'".<ref name="Bainbridge/Guardian">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/14/popandrock.paulmccartney|first=Luke|last=Bainbridge|title=Mac in the USSR|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=15 December 2003|access-date=11 December 2018}}</ref>}}