Nikita (song)
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| “Nikita” | |||||
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| Single by Elton John from the album Ice on Fire |
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| B-side | "The Man Who Never Died" (U.K.)
"Restless" (U.S.) |
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| Released | October 1985 (U.K.) February 1986 (U.S.) | ||||
| Format | CD single 7" Single 12" Single |
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| Recorded | 1985 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 4:54 | ||||
| Label | Rocket (U.K.) Geffen (U.S.) | ||||
| Writer(s) | Bernie Taupin (lyrics), Elton John (music) | ||||
| Producer | Gus Dudgeon | ||||
| Elton John singles chronology | |||||
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"Nikita" is a song by English singer Elton John about the Cold War from his 1985 album Ice on Fire.
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[edit] Song synopsis
In the song, Elton John describes his crush on a Russian borderguard whom he cannot meet because he is not allowed into the country. It features George Michael and Nik Kershaw on backing vocals. [1] The song peaked at #3 on the UK singles chart and also made the Top 10 in the US, charting at #7.
[edit] Chart performance
| Country | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Germany | 1 |
| The Netherlands | 1[2] |
| Switzerland | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 3 |
| United States Billboard Hot 100 | 7 |
| United States Adult Contemporary | 3 |
[edit] Video settings and song information
The video for the song, directed by Ken Russell, featured Anya Major in the role of "Nikita." Russell says he didn't realise that Nikita was a man's name in the Russian language, and Elton John accepted the proposed script written by Russell which was a direct male-female love interpretation of the song, as indeed the depicted Soviet border guard in the video is a brunette woman with short hair. However, in interviews John admitted that Nikita was a male name in Russian, hinting at the song's actual homosexual written view point. However, Nikita is a male name only in the Russian language. In the Slavic language[clarify], Nikita is a female name meaning "Victorious People." [1] Consider too the television series and movie -- La Femme Nikita [2] -- in which Nikita definitely was female. It would not have been unusual for an East German border guard to be of Slavic origin.
[edit] References
- ^ Elton John Song Lyrics: Nikita. Retrieved on 2007-01-03.
- ^ De Nederlandse Top 40, week 49, 1985. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
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