"Russians" is a song by

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-earth ...

, from his debut solo album, '' The Dream of the Blue Turtles'', released in June 1985, and released as a single in November. The song is a commentary and plea that criticises the then-dominant

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

foreign policy A state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterally or through ...

and

doctrine Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief syste ...

mutual assured destruction Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy which posits that a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by an attacker on a nuclear-armed defender with second-strike capabilities would cause the ...

(MAD) by 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., ...

and the then existing

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 ...

Background

In 2010, Sting explained that the song was inspired by watching Soviet TV via inventor Ken Schaffer's satellite receiver at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

I had a friend at university who invented a way to steal the satellite signal from Russian TV. We'd have a few beers and climb this tiny staircase to watch Russian television... At that time of night we'd only get children's Russian television, like their "
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...
". I was impressed with the care and attention they gave to their children's programmes. I regret our current enemies haven't got the same ethics.

Sting performed the song at the

1986 Grammy Awards The 28th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985. The night's big winner was USA For Africa's "We Are The World", which won ...

. His performance of the song was released on the 1994 album ''Grammy's Greatest Moments Volume I''.

Music video

The accompanying music video for the single was directed by

Jean-Baptiste Mondino Jean-Baptiste Mondino (born Aubervilliers, France on 21 July 1949) is a French fashion photographer and music video director. He has directed music videos for Madonna, David Bowie, Sting, Björk, Don Henley, Neneh Cherry, Axel Bauer and Les Rita ...

, and was shot in a similar black-and-white, French New Wave-influenced style to his previous video for Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer". The video also prominently featured child actor

Felix Howard Felix Howard (born January 14, 1973) is a songwriter, record producer, A&R and publisher. A former model as a child, Howard was photographed by Jamie Morgan and styled by the world renowned Ray Petri for the cover of ''The Face'' magazine. In ...

, who was later featured Mondino's promotional video for

Madonna's Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

"Open Your Heart" in 1986.

Composition

The song uses the ''Romance'' theme from the ''

Lieutenant Kijé Lieutenant Kijé or Kizhe (russian: Пору́чик Киже́, translit. Poruchik Kizhe), originally Kizh (Киж), is a fictional character in an anecdote about the reign of Emperor Paul I of Russia, in which the cover up of a transcript ...

Suite'' by Russian composer

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, ...

, and its lead-in includes a snippet from the Soviet news program ''

Vremya ''Vremya'' (russian: Вре́мя, lit. "Time") is the main evening newscast in Russia, airing on Channel One Russia (Russian: , Pervy kanal) and previously on Programme One of the Central Television of the USSR (CT USSR, Russian: ). The progr ...

'' in which the famed Soviet news broadcaster

Igor Kirillov Igor Leonidovich Kirillov (russian: Игорь Леонидович Кириллов, 14 September 1932 – 29 October 2021) was a Soviet and Russian news presenter, announcer and actor. He was a news anchor for Soviet Central Television (CT U ...

says in Russian: "...The British Prime Minister described the talks with the head of the delegation, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, as a constructive, realistic, practical and friendly exchange of opinions...", referring to the meeting of

Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Com ...

and

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

in 1984. The Soviet leader at the time was

Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko uk, Костянтин Устинович Черненко, translit=Kostiantyn Ustynovych Chernenko (24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the seventh General Secretary of the Commu ...

. Also in the background, communications from the Apollo–Soyuz mission can be heard.

Reception

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' said it "features a haunting melody, dramatic lyric and sensational musicianship." ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' called it a "a sober political/humanitarian message framed in surging chords and

Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

quotes."

Legacy

In a 2021 interview,

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post- New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability ...

, the co-writer, director and producer of ''

Terminator 2 ''Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' is a 1991 American science-fiction action film directed by James Cameron, who co-wrote the script with William Wisher. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Robert Patrick, and Edward Furlong, it is t ...

'', said that the song inspired him to create the character of

John Connor John Connor is a fictional character in the ''Terminator'' franchise. Created by writer and director James Cameron, the character is first referred to in the 1984 film ''The Terminator'' and first appears in its 1991 sequel '' Terminator 2: Jud ...

, the 10-year-old boy who would be the central character of the plot: "I remember sitting there once, high on E, writing notes for Terminator, and I was struck by Sting’s song, that “I hope the Russians love their children too.” And I thought, “You know what? The idea of a nuclear war is just so antithetical to life itself.” That’s where the kid came from." Sting re-recorded an acoustic version of the song in March 2022, during the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. A ...

, with proceeds going to humanitarian and medical aid in Ukraine. In a statement, he said that he "never thought he songwould be relevant again. But, in the light of one man’s bloody and woefully misguided decision to invade a peaceful, unthreatening neighbor, the song is, once again, a plea for our common humanity."

Track listings

; 7″ single # "Russians" – 3:57 # " Gabriel's Message" – 2:15 ; 12″ maxi # "Russians" – 3:57 # " Gabriel's Message" – 2:10 # "I Burn for You" (live) – 4:40

Personnel

* Photography by

Anton Corbijn Anton Johannes Gerrit Corbijn van Willenswaard (; born 20 May 1955) is a Dutch photographer, film director and music video director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2,Pitman, Joanna"The silent partner"' ...

* Made in West Germany by Polygram ; "Russians" * Written by Sting * Engineered by Jim Scott * Produced by Pete Smith ; "Gabriel's Message" * Written by Traditional * Arranged by Sting * Mixed and recorded by Pete Smith ; "I Burn for You" * Written by Sting * Mixed, recorded and produced by Pete Smith

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

"Sting: Russians' 1985"
��analysis of the song on Pop History Dig by Jack Doyle, PopHistoryDig.com, 30 April 2009 {{Sting 1985 singles 1985 songs A&M Records singles Anti-war songs Black-and-white music videos Cold War in popular culture Cultural depictions of Nikita Khrushchev Music videos directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino Rock ballads Songs about nuclear war and weapons Songs about Ronald Reagan Songs about Russia Songs written by Sting (musician) Sting (musician) songs