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song: Back in the USSR
language: Russian
performer: Love & Mersey

Back in the USSR is an obvious choice to sing in Russian, but in this case it is a Dutch Beatles tribute band, Love and Mersey, that do the honors. One of the members is married to a Russian, who did the translation, but even the non-Russian (and non-Dutch) speaker can tell it doesn't sound quite . . . Russian enough.

But no matter, it's a good recording and an interesting video to watch, with footage of the band touring Russia and lots of symbols of the old USSR mixed in. There's a funny bit at the end, where one of the band members (not the singer) is reading the Russian lyrics from the page, clearly befuddled by them, and in the end shakes his head and says "Wat een taal!" ("What a language!"), which is probably the ultimate case of the pot calling the kettle black.

старенький автомобиль

song: Drive My Car
language: Russian
performer: Vesyolye Rebyata (Весёлые Ребята)

From a 1971 performance. Vesyolye Rebyata ("Jolly Fellows") were a popular Soviet-era (and presumably Kremlin-sanctioned) band that continues to record and perform - at least that what I gathered from the google translation of their wikipedia page.

This is not the image of the USSR that I grew up with, to say the least. Then again, we had Nixon on Laugh-In a few years before this.

Nice raincoats! And dig the lead guitar player, who only shows up on camera during his solo, where he does some really uncomfortable-looking strutting (or perhaps he's just swallowing a vole).

"Старенький автомобиль" (starenky avtomobil) translates as "Old Car", which makes me curious about the lyrics.