Clifford Thies provides his top-ten list of Cold War songs, and it is a treat. But it is more than delightful. It’s a knockout.
When I discovered the list, I eagerly looked to see where Thies put the Beatles’ “Back in the USSR.” He put it at #2, behind Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”
Paul McCartney said that the 1968 song’s BOAC airline passenger from Miami Beach to the USSR is a Russian spy returning home after an extended mission in the United States. As evidenced on the song’s Wikipedia page, interpretations vary. A shiftiness allows for seeing it as a parody
