Russia

I stiffed in Byelorussia;

Blew out in Chernigov;

There's a pub in Lithuania

That I got kicked out of -

No gigs in Vladivostok,

No work in Atbasar;

Not movin' all that much stock

In Kazakhstanskaya.

Booed off in Azerbaijan,

Same thing in Serpukhov;

No encore in Astraskhan,

Sumy and ol' Khar'kov.

Oh, I use to hear my records

In the Nugayskaya Steppe!

Ukraine's fields like golden cords!

Frost of Chukot Khrebet!

Like Lenin, I've been buried

Above ground, in a tomb;

Roadie - less, I've hurried

Through Kursk's retreating gloom;

The winding streets of Moscow,

The chimmneys of Zhdnov:

Fare thee well, for I must go,

Leave all you remind me of.

My tongue knows every syllable

Of Semipalatinsk,

And loves the monosyllables

Of Kursk and Ket and Minsk.

The Taz, the Par, the Kas, the Om -

Rivers I cross alone;

It's like that Bobby Dylan song:

I'm not wanted in my home.

In Kheta, past the Arctic line,

I'm an anacronism.

I was a good idea at the time -

Just like communism.

From Nargan Mar to Mangyshlak,

The last Soviet star!

I can't even be exiled back

To old Siberia.

There's only one place left to sing,

One land to hear my pleas:

The place that will accept anything

If it's from overseas -

I'll go the only place left to roam

As Russia splits asunder:

Goodbye to the Kremlin's dome!

I'm number one Down Under.