Song of the Day 2/28: Sting, “Russians”
In 1985, when Ronald Reagan was saber-rattling against the Soviet Union, Sting included this song on his first solo album, “Dream of the Blue Turtles.” Released as the fourth single from the LP, it reached the top 10 in several European nations, but only No. 12 in the UK and No. 16 in the US, the principle target of his blunt plea for nuclear sanity.
Only the lyrics are Sting’s. The music is credited to Serge Prokofiev, who provided the melody via the Romance theme of his “Lieutenant Kijé Suite,” written for a 1933 film. The theme in question begins at 5:25. Prokofiev nicked the melody himself, from an old Russian folk song called “The Little Grey Dove is Cooing.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC-1sLcXYfE
You would think the song was entirely of its moment — it’s been a long time since nuclear war seemed like a real possibility — but it was covered just last year by Australian singer Katie Noonan, who must have been prescient about Putin.
A very solid collection of songs on that album.
Here’s another version by the ’60s sunshine pop group Free Design.
https://youtu.be/OSKfxVw1vaM
Different, and more familiar, part of Prokofiev’s work involved there; you hear that melody a lot around the holidays.
Though the “Lt. Kijé Suite” was written as a film score, it was quickly incorporated into the classical canon, I’m guessing in the same spirit that “pops” orchestras play John Williams movie music today.
True, but I hear a similar melody in some of the Sting song. Natural, I guess, since it’s all part of the same piece, Free Design is more cheerful, of course.