Siberian Nights

Album: Ash & Ice (2016)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was written by The Kills guitarist Jamie Hince during a solo trip that he took on the Trans Siberian Express. He told Tonedeaf.com: "I thought our record would be sort of paranoid and romantic. So I was on the Trans-Siberian Express, freezing cold, snow outside, silver birch trees, and I wrote a song about Vladimir Putin. It was at the height of the Pussy Riot thing, and I just wanted to write a song where Putin's almost too masculine, riding bare-chested on a horse and all this stuff."
  • Lyrically this is pretty sexually explicit and homoerotic. Hince told Artist Direct: "I just wanted to use all this sort of masculine bravado and sexual boasting, almost like one of those old-fashioned kind of hip-hop records, like bigging yourself up, but it's Putin.

    And then there's this middle section that goes all soft and psychedelic, which is this kind of section where he's become so masculine that he just needs a break from it, and he just wants to hug another man [laughs]. And I kind of just wanted to make this, I don't know, it was just my imagination on the Trans Siberian Express, my brain eating itself [laughs]."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Subversive Songs Used To Sell

Subversive Songs Used To SellSong Writing

Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.

Chris Squire of Yes

Chris Squire of YesSongwriter Interviews

One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.

Janis Ian

Janis IanSongwriter Interviews

One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.

Billy Joe Shaver

Billy Joe ShaverSongwriter Interviews

The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.