“rasputin” is a 1978 disco hit single by the germany-based pop and disco group boney m., the second single off their hugely successful album nightflight to venus. the song is a semi-biographical song whose subject and namesake is grigori rasputin, a friend and advisor of tsar nicholas ii of russia and his family during the early 20th century. the song variously sensationalizes rasputin as a playboy, mystical healer, and political demiurge.
“rasputin” is also distinctive for its incorporation of melody lines from a serbian (“ruse kose curo imaš”) and turkish (“üsküdar’a gider iken / kâtibim”) folk song, while the spoken line “oh, those russians” at the end of the song mimics a line in eartha kitt’s recording of “kâtibim”. [wikipedia]
the song references grigori rasputin’s alleged healing of hemophiliac tsarevich alexei of russia, and how this endeared him to the boy’s mother, the tsarina alexandra fyodorovna (former princess alix of hesse). it also claims that rasputin was alexandra’s paramour (“ra ra rasputin: lover of the russian queen”) and that rasputin’s political power overshadowed that of the tsar himself. while “rasputin” accurately indicates that unfavorable rumors damaged grigori’s reputation, there is no verifiable evidence to suggest that he had an affair with alexandra. [wikipedia]
[...] he died one day after (the same day according to the telegraph) grigori rasputin, subject of his biggest hit, ‘rasputin’. [...]