Vladimir Putin's pop propaganda theme song

"A Man Like Putin" has become the Russian prime minister's theme song played at his rallies. It is really quite a pop anthem: "I want a man like Putin, who's full of strength. I want a man like Putin, who doesn't drink. I want a man like Putin, who won't make me sad." PBS profiled the artist behind the tune, old-school Soviet rocker Alexander Yelin who initially meant it as a gag. But then Putin got really into it. From Sound Tracks: Music Without Borders:

Yelin says he wrote "A Man Like Putin" on a $300 bet to see if he could create a hit. "All I needed was the right message," he says. "What can a girl sing about? She can't sing that Putin is great. That would be stupid and it wouldn't be funny. But she can sing that everything around her sucks, and she needs a man like Putin."

"A Man Like Putin" (Thanks, Marina Gorbis!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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Anonymous

isn’t that a Huey Lewis song?
rebdav

Russia is an embarrassed former superpower with huge piles of semi-functional nukes and ICBM’s. My nose for history says Putin has dreams of being a new Stalin, sadly in my speaking to Russians they say that many want him to be the new Stalin too.
What is with that cult of personality? Putin the fighter jock, Putin the forest fire retardant bomber, Putin the SCUBA diver, Putin the old skinny muscle man, etc.
zio_donnie

Yes because this is so much different from Bono whitewashing Blair and every warmonger politician that will buy him drinks or the various pop stars campaigning for Obama a couple of years ago.

I think that the guy who wrote the song is much more honest than the whole western world star system combined when he says “Dude you are reading too much in this, i am in it for the money.”
Anonymous

The British often demonstrate genuine disdain with all things Russian, going back to Crimean war probably.
Anonymous

You should listen to his best buddy Berlusconi ‘s propaganda song “Meno male che Silvio c’Ã¨”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXf-YbsSh0Y

ah I was about to forget… you cannot leave your comment, they are disabled. :-)
anachronismo

The girl band in the video was pretty awesome. Hot and talented, can I get some more of that please?
Anonymous

I’m a fan. I used to dance to this song back in 2003 without even realizing it was about him. Sometimes music can be good without having to get into the politics.
Antinous / Moderator

Volodya, you’re so fine!
You’re so fine you blow my mind!
Volodya!
Volodya!
Ugly Canuck

From what I understand, Mr Putin is, in fact, very very popular amongst Russians in general.

There really is no accounting for taste, I guess.
- Jonathan Badger
  
  It’s not hard to understand why he’s popular. Yes, Russia now is less democratic than it was under Yeltsin, but it is more stable, less crime ridden, and inflation isn’t the huge problem it was. A few critics meeting suspicious deaths isn’t enough to turn people against him. Russians are *used* to critics meeting bad ends.
  - Ugly Canuck
    
    From my readings in Russian history, it seems that Russians have always respected and supported “strong leaders”. It seems to form part of their national character – probably formed over the ages of fending off barbarian hordes from the East. And more recently (1942-1945), the West.
- knoxblox
  
  Well, the standard of living did improve under his Presidency. Whether it was due to him or to outside influences, I can’t say.
Felton / Moderator

I was hoping for something more along the lines of Shaft or Superfly.
- Cassandra
  
  Try Boney M’s “Rah, Rah, Rasputin.” Youtube video here:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvDMlk3kSYg
  
  As Jonathan Badger says: “A few critics meeting suspicious deaths isn’t enough to turn people against him. Russians are *used* to critics meeting bad ends.”
  
  The Putin song is…incredibly, virally, catchy in Russian.
  - Felton / Moderator
    
    Try Boney M’s “Rah, Rah, Rasputin.”
    
    That was a blast!
Anonymous

Actually, after a quarter century of Clinton, Obama, and two Bushes, Putin’s starting to sound pretty good.
- MarkM
  
  > Actually, after a quarter century of Clinton, Obama, and two Bushes, Putin’s starting to sound pretty good.
  
  I think you meant to say:
  After a couple centuries of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Quincy Adams, Jackson, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Lincoln, Johnson, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland, McKinley, Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Putin’s starting to sound pretty good.
knoxblox

A man like Putin, who ran surveillance in Leningrad.
A man like Putin, who called for assassination of my dad.

Feel free to add your own verses…
- Anonymous
  
  Putin the lake of fire,put in the lake of fire, flames are rising higher,ever and ever higher.
Mithrilmojo

Putin will fully come into his own when he has his own J-Pop song. Until then, he’s just a one hit wonder.
- Trent Hawkins
  
  Are you suggesting that he has a theme song for every country that he will conquer a-la Duckman?
Anonymous

@ MarkM.

I don’t have any major problems with some of those guys, and neither would Vlad.
None of them are as bad as Stalin, so maybe the Russkies have earned their new Pop-tart overlord(s).
Trent Hawkins

And US goes for cold War propaganda… always two steps behind.