# Any Marillion fans? I'm pretty sure "White Russians" is the most ridiculous song ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902 "2018-05-27T15:25:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/1 "2018-05-27T15:25:15Z")
I don’t know how many other people even know Marillion, but I got into them recently not really knowing what to expect, just that they were one of those names I see pop up a lot. So I got their album “Clutching at Straws.” Little did I know, I was in for one of the weirder prog rock projects I’ve encountered: a super-serious concept album about alcohol and anti-Semitism, of all things, sounding like Genesis - the Phil Collins, _American Psycho_-era Genesis, saturated in aggressive synth hooks, and pretty sick drums, guitar, and bass, but SO overwrought. _White Russians_ is the height of this overwroughtness. Musically, it’s a hard-hitting piece with good instrumentals and arrangement. But the lyrics are a bizarre stream-of-consciousness rant about the Holocaust, conflicts in Israel, alcohol abuse, the failure of countries to respect human rights, and then on top of that, what seems like numerous references to Communist Russia. This might sound like an ambitious and worthy projects, but the singer’s insanely overdramatic Phil Collins sound - which briefly lapses into a Bryan Ferry vocal style on the bridge, where he softly and tenderly sings - I swear to God - “we buy fresh bagels at the corner store, where swastikas are sprayed from aerosols.” Yes, he’s name-dropping BAGELS in this song. I just can’t get over how absurd it all is, but I also CAN’T STOP LISTENING TO IT. [Here’s ‘White Russians’ on Youtube.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGkNjO7E5QM) Wonder if anyone else here has even heard it, and if so, what they think?! ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/2 "2018-05-27T15:30:13Z")
Was a _Marillion_ fan when this album dropped. Prog rock near its zenith, this and _Misplaced Childhood_. Pretentious, musically-sound, lots of British, and especially Scottish references. Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/3 "2018-05-27T15:42:20Z")
I, too, was a fan when it was released. This is from memory, but I’m sure it could easily be looked up: The song is about the rise of Neo-Nazism in the late '80s. It was written and released a couple of years before the Berlin Wall came down, when there was still a West Germany and an East Germany. Many of the references in the song were from observations and experiences Fish had while touring Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/4 "2018-05-27T17:00:53Z")
This isn’t even the most ridiculous Marillion song. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/5 "2018-05-27T17:26:20Z")
My husband loves this group. I was introduced to much of their work when we first started dating many moons ago. As you say, they are oddly catchy despite being somewhat silly at times. I enjoy them in small doses. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/6 "2018-05-27T17:34:45Z")
I only know Marillion from the TV show “Nighty Night”. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2018, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/7 "2018-05-27T18:08:34Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > This isn’t even the most ridiculous Marillion song. Oh my, yes. Another contender would be the sweet and tender ballad “She Chameleon”: \* “So was it just a fuck, was it just a fuck, just another fuck I said Loving just for laughs, carnal autograph, lying on a lizard’s bed So was it just a fuck, was it just a fuck, just another fuck I bled…”\* Good stuff, though! ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/8 "2018-05-30T02:08:18Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I only know Marillion from the TV show “Nighty Night”. Ok, you do know the last name of the lead singer is Hogarth…right? ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/9 "2018-05-30T02:10:59Z")
and it is White Russian…not Russians ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/10 "2018-05-30T02:25:43Z")
From Garden Party…Edgy eggs and queing cumbers, rudely wakened from their slumber, ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-marillion-fans-im-pretty-sure-white-russians-is-the-most-ridiculous-song-ever/814902/11 "2018-05-30T02:40:16Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > From Garden Party…Edgy eggs and queing cumbers, rudely wakened from their slumber, Slow French kissing with the Dauphin’s daughter If I fall in love now I’ll be floating in Seine Plastered in Paris I’ve had an Eiffel Gonna make my escape on the midnight train Choo, choo to you - Choo, choo to you - Charting the single Schnapping my fingers on an alcoholiday Sniff round a Fraulein when I’m scent to Cologne