Us

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Even though this comes off an album entitled “Soviet Kitsch”, there is a condemnation of the people who try to impose themselves on others (like Soviets did to artists and… Read More

Aug. 17, 20041 viewer93.9K views

Us Lyrics

[Verse 1]
They made a statue of us
And put it on a mountaintop
Now tourists come and stare at us
Blow bubbles with their gum
Take photographs of fun, have fun
They'll name a city after us
And later say it's all our fault
Then they'll give us a talking to
Then they'll give us a talking to
'Cause they've got years of experience

[Chorus]
Living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
Living in a den of thieves
And it's contagious
And it's contagious
And it's contagious
And it's contagious

[Verse 2]
We wear our scarves just like a noose
But not 'cause we want eternal sleep
And though our parts are slightly used
New ones are slave labor you can keep

About

Even though this comes off an album entitled “Soviet Kitsch”, there is a condemnation of the people who try to impose themselves on others (like Soviets did to artists and which resulted in Kitsch) and rob them of their selfhood is the principal theme of this song. It was the Soviets who put up statues of Stalin on mountaintops (well, maybe hills) overlooking their subject cities. Like many punk songs, it sets up a “them” versus “us” framework however in this case, no one “rises above” but instead rusts on the mountain top while tourists take pictures and the people who put them there write say it’s “all our fault”.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What has the media said about the song?

In 2018, NPR ranked this as the #72 greatest song by a female or nonbinary artist in the 21st century, saying:

Meeting Regina Spektor through her breakthrough album Soviet Kitsch in 2004 was akin to ripping down a long cobblestone street on a bicycle — relishing in the joy of possibility, feeling the texture of history below and becoming so enchanted you forget there is anything pleasurable at all about a smoother road more traveled. Before her family fled to the U.S. as refugees from Moscow when Spektor was 9, she studied Chopin and Rachmaninoff and was certain she would become a composer. On ‘Us,’ Spektor’s small Soviet self meets her Greenwich Village grownup at the corner of classical and whimsical, where the word ‘contagious’ has seven syllables, and a piano’s 88 keys are stand-ins for infinite expressions of personality.

Who produced “Us” by Regina Spektor?

When did Regina Spektor release “Us”?

Who wrote “Us” by Regina Spektor?