"Mother Russia" is the closing song on Renaissance's 1974 album ''

Turn of the Cards ''Turn of the Cards'' is the fifth studio album by the English progressive rock band Renaissance, released in July 1974. It was the last Renaissance studio album to include excerpts from existing classical pieces. It was also the first album re ...

''. It also appears on the 1976 live album '' Live at Carnegie Hall'', the compilation ''Tales of 1001 Nights, Vol. 1'', and several other Renaissance concert albums. The song is a tribute to Russian fiction writer

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Russian novelist. One of the most famous Soviet dissidents, Solzhenitsyn was an outspoken critic of communism and helped to raise global awareness of political repr ...

, who had been forced by the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nati ...

government to leave the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

earlier in 1974. Written as usual by poet Betty Thatcher, the lyrics are based on Solzhenitsyn's famous fiction novel about Soviet repression, ''

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich ''One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich'' (russian: links=no, italics=yes, Один день Ивана Денисовича, Odin den' Ivana Denisovicha, ) is a short novel by the Russian writer and Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, first p ...

''.Romano, Will (2010). ''Mountains come out of the sky: an illustrated history of prog rock'' (1st Ed.). Montclair, NJ: Blackbeat Books. p. 133. Because fans of the band were surprised at the move into topical songwriting, singer

Annie Haslam Annie Haslam (born 8 June 1947) is an English vocalist, songwriter and painter. She is best known as the lead singer of progressive rock band Renaissance since 1971, and for her long and diverse solo singing career. She has a five-octave vocal r ...

has had often to point out to interviewers that "Mother Russia" really refers to Solzhenitsyn. Musically, the full version of "Mother Russia" begins with a sparse, string-driven introduction marked by occasional

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

crescendos. Around two minutes into the song, Haslam's voice enters, and the next three minutes of the song contain six verses in three pairs describing Solzhenitsyn's plight, in between which are short interludes of strings and acoustic guitar. The last five minutes of the full song consist of a three-minute instrumental interlude with the full band performing over wordless vocals by Haslam, followed by a repeat of the last two verses to finish. Recording engineer and co-producer Dick Plant stated:

I think that the real thrust of the music came from John Tout's piano. I don't think Renaissance ever wanted to do anything that they couldn't reproduce on stage.

The music to "Mother Russia" is credited to Michael Dunford, but the song is cited by Renaissance bassist Jon Camp as being a case where he made major compositional contributions without being credited for them; he claims authorship of the instrumental interlude.

Personnel

;Renaissance *

– lead vocals *Michael Dunford – acoustic guitar *Jon Camp – bass, backing vocals *John Tout – keyboards *Terence Sullivan – drums, percussion ;Additional personnel *Jimmy Horowitz – orchestral arrangements

Single

A version of "Mother Russia" edited down to three minutes and seven seconds was released as a single in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

only. Although its parent album, ''Turn of the Cards'', peaked at #94 on Billboard,Whitburn, Joel (1996). ''Joel Whitburn's top pop albums, 1955-1996'' Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 649. the single did not go anywhere near the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mother Russia (Renaissance Song) 1974 songs Protest songs Songs based on actual events Song recordings produced by Richard Gottehrer Songs about Russia Songs about writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Music based on novels RCA Records singles Sire Records singles