Russians

It may sound weird, but I've made an essay for my MSc in Comparative Politics that had this song as a starting point! I analyzed the content of every single line, because there are a lot of hidden (and not so hidden) historical references in the song, and wrote about the similarities and differences between the Cold War and the ongoing (will it ever end?) War on Terror.

It's written in Portuguese, but in case anyone is interested I can try to translate it to English.

Okay...I'm only 17, so I was born just before the Cold War ended. So what I'm saying may not be totally valid, but... I think what Sting was doing here was pretty brave. I mean, the western world (at least America) was very anti-Russian, anti-Communist, whatever. And he was basically saying, "we're at least as bad as they are." So, I think that was a brave thing to do, pointing out the Russians' humanity--and maybe our mistakes, as well.

[Sting]: Russians (1985) is a song that's easy to mock, a very earnest song, but at the time it was written - at the height of the Reagan-Rambo paranoia years, when 'Russians' were thought of as grey sub-human automatons only good enough to blow up - it seemed important. I was living in New York at the time, and a friend of mine had a gizmo that could pull the signal from the Russian satellite. We'd go drinking and then watch Russian morning shows in the middle of the night. It was apparent from watching these lovingly made kids shows that Russians weren't quite the automatons that we'd been told they were. The song was also precipitated by my son asking me if there was a bomb that existed that could blow up the world, and I had to tell him, "Actually, yeah, there is." So he was introduced to that horror, the horror we've all lived with for most of our lives. It's very cheeky to have stolen a bit of Prokofiev and stuck it in a pop song, but in that context it was right.

The first time I heard this song, I was lying in bed listening to Dream of the Blue Turtles on headphones. I was starting to fall asleep when the cymbals or gong or whatever started up at the end. As soon as I heard that, I sprang wide awake. I don't know if I actually said it out loud, but I definitely thought, "My God! It's ringing!" Throughout the song, the ticking time bomb remained. Even while the message of acceptance was spread, the clock continued to count down. Years after the Cold War, having never known the terror of a looming nuclear war, I was still given the impression that the Doomsday Clock had finally struck midnight. This song is highly effective, and that's all I have to say.

This song is pure genius. It has a great many references in it and a great rhythm about the words. The clock in the beggining is a reference to the doomsday clock. I also find his use of "little boy" interesting because he is trying to save his little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy, the deadly toy being the atomic bomb. But the fact that Oppenheimer's first A-bomb was called Little Boy makes this line even more interesting. Therer are so many quotable lines in this, but it is just such a good song lyrically and musically.

Imagine if you replace the capitalists and communists decades ago in this song with democrats and republicans today: why don't we try to fix the country instead of throwing around sound bites for political brownie points, fiddling around while the country burns?

I love this song. It sends shivers down my spine every time I hear it.

"Mr. Khrushchev said we will bury you." Khruschev did say that and President John F. Kennedy asked him if that was a threat and he responded that it was not said to be taken literly and that he had ment to say that communism will burry capitalism. "How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer's deadly toy." Oppenheimer was a german scientist who helped develop the atomic bomb. " There is no monopoly of common sense." There is no monopoly for common sense meaning that there is no buisness for the right choice no one dominates that and if anyone was foolish enough to fire a bomb it would kill everyone not just the enemy hence "I hope the Russians love their children too." " We share the same biology Regardless of ideology." Means we are all people too even if we may not think it Soviets and Americans were both humans striveing for very diffrent goals. " There is no historical precedent To put the words in the mouth of the president." That means there is nothing the president has to say when faced with a tough decision, it is his choice. "There's no such thing as a winnable war It's a lie we don't believe anymore." Means that noone can win with nuclear tecnology only everyone can die. " Mr. Reagan says we will protect you." Meaning he doesn't beleive that the president is capeable of protecting America. Rate + if you found this helpful.

Wow. This song really makes you think. I'm spo glad Sting wrote this, it makes you wonder what might have happened had we not called the world off. Why is there so much violence? We should all be flower children!!!! (JK :)

The line "I hope the Russians love their children too" is saying, that if the Russians started a nuclear war, it wouldn't be just the soldiers in the war, the entirety of the countries would suffer- children would be killed and grow up in nuclear wasteland. If you love your children, you wouldn't start an atomic war. "Mr Krushchev said 'we will bury you"- Krushchev did say that and JFK asked if it was a threat. Each side was threatening to start a nuclear war on the other. "We share the same biology, regardless of ideology."- we're all human, regardless of whether we're communists or capitalists. Mr Reagan says we will protect you- the president is promising to nuke the Russians if a war started out, to protect "america's children" and then again with the line "what might save me and you (meaning both the americans and the russians) is if the russians love their children too." It's not a racist song, it's a song promoting peace to the end of the cold war.