Expert: Chalk - 1/31/2004

Question
Hi,

I teach ENG and we read ANimal Farm.  I always have my students study the Beatles at the same time.  We specifically listen to Piggies, Eleanor Rigby, Revolution, BAck in the USSR, and watch clips of their yellow submarine movie.  What do you know about Piggies and Back in the USSR?  I always relate them to the novel A.F., but am always looking for more info.

Sincerely,
Amy L-F
8th ENG in Ohio

Answer
Hi,

As far as Piggies is concerned, I've just re-read the lyrics. I thought it was written by John, but I see that George wrote it.

It's very class-conscious/political, isn't it? Much more like John, I would have thought. Anyway...

I'm not sure about any direct connection to "AF", though I agree that the pigs idea looks like a reflection of the book... I just see it as a comment on the British Establishment ('Ruling Classes') at the time - British society was very much based on class (and still is up to a point). The Beatles were, of course, very much working class, and even the money they earned wouldn't change this - their roots stayed working class and they would, as a result, always despise the upper classes, consciously or subconsciously. That's life!

Re Back in the USSR, this is what I said in another forum a few years back - it still holds good: I was born in England at the same time as the Beatles, and I 'grew up' musically with their ideas. Great Britain in the mid-Sixties (despite all the hype about "Swinging London"), was in a rather poor position economically (this is not the place to go into all the details, of course), and we were suffering from considerable self-examination.

The phrase "I'm backing Britain" became popular in the sense that, for example, ordinary people buying British products helped promote the country's economy. As the Beatles were very awake to political situations (listen to "Taxman", in which they mention Mr. Wilson & Mr.Heath, two political leaders at the time), they used a play on words to compose "Back in the USSR" (...backing the USSR).

I would guess that it is also a commentary on the touring that groups have to do, thus the plane sounds at the beginning & the end, and contains (or is) a spoof of the Beach Boys, with their constant references to girls from different places, like in "California Girls".

The Beach Boys were considered by British Beatles fans at the time (& now!) as rather quaint (strangely old-fashioned), & frankly far too American, at a time when British music was The Trend for most of the pop world. (Sorry, US buddies, but this was a fact at the time).

The vocal arrangement in the middle part of the song (Middle Eight) is a direct echo of the Beach Boys - it could be a spoof or a compliment - you'd have to ask Paul!

You must also remember that it is impossible to compare the British mentality in the mid-Sixties to the American one now. Nine-Eleven was a long way in the future. Sure, they knew that the Soviets were the USA's big enemy and a constant threat, but the Beatles weren't American and, in any case, the song does not praise the USSR - it simply mentions it. A selling point for the song in an age when we knew virtually nothing of what went on there, giving as it does the impression that the Beatles knew it well.

I realise that lots of young people need 'eye witness' testimony of how things were at the time & how the Beatles thought & were influenced, and I hope this helps.

Chalk.