In an October 1960 speech at the United Nations (photo above), he reportedly pounded his shoe on the rostrum for effect. His unpredictable and blunt style, made him even more menacing in Western eyes. In any case, he was one of those Russian leaders who augured the Cold War ideology deeply into the world’s psyche in those years, which is why, no doubt, Sting chose to use him in the song. Senator Barry Goldwater, when he ran for president in 1964, used a clip of Khrushchev making the remark during his presidential campaign. Khrushchev came off as a gruff and hostile leader in his speeches, prone to expressive outbursts. In any case, “we will bury you” is what stuck and became a famous line from the mid-1950s on. Everyone knew the threat and implication. Republican U.S. Your own working class will bury you.” Khrushchev was here referring to the Marxist proletariat as “the undertaker of capitalism” with communism the ultimate victor. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. “I once said, ‘We will bury you,’ and I got into trouble with it. Khrushchev himself, some years later in August 1963, in remarks he made in Yugoslavia, offered further clarification: Khrushchev on the cover of Time magazine early September 1961 when the Soviets resumed nuclear testing. His song covers some Cold War history, the bomb’s origins, and the tough talk that began in the 1950s. Sting set his lyrics to the dirge-like Russian music of Sergei Prokofiev’s Lieutenant Kije Suite. and Russia, with Europe caught in the middle. Sting’s song was leveled at both sides, drawing on the Cold War’s nuclear rhetoric, which by the early- and mid-1980s was running quite hot between the U.S.

and the Soviet Union were then called - were still aimed at each other.

The nuclear arsenals of the two “superpowers” - as the U.S. In the Soviet Union, a succession of three leaders had occurred in the early- to mid-1980s: Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Chernenko, and Mikhail Gorbachev. Ronald Reagan was President of the United States at the time, and Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the U.K. In 1985 Sting thought this an important arena for song, and he produced one with a message and point of view - a song that became popular for time, especially in Europe.įormerly a member of the rock group Police, Sting had embarked on a new phase in his career. His debut solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, released in June 1985, included a song entitled “Russians,” which was also released as a single in November that year. Among musicians producing music aimed at the Cold War is British singer/songwriter Sting. 1985 CD single for Sting’s ‘Russians’ song.

Fast forward 1985 cast