In the Fall of 2002, a sticky pop tune called "A Man Like Putin" began climbing up the charts in Russia, causing many pundits to declare him one of the top sex symbols in the country. Although Putin has declared disapproval of his rising cult status, most rumors indicate that the song is propaganda backed by the Kremlin. A girl group called Singing Together supposedly sings the song, but the record does not appear to be on sale anywhere and radio stations do not know where their copies came from. Adding to this is the fact that one of Singing Together's promoters is Nikolai Gastell, a press secretary at the Russian Supreme Court.
My boyfriend is in trouble again,
He got into a fight and got stoned on something,
I am sick of him and so I told him, 'get out of here',
And now I want a man like Putin.
A man like Putin, full of energy,
A man like Putin who doesn't drink,
A man like Putin who wouldn't hurt me,
A man like Putin who wouldn't run away from me.
I saw him in the news yesterday,
He was saying the world was at the crossroads,
It's easy with a man like him at home or out and about,
And now I want a man like Putin.
You can download the song (in Russian of course) at http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~maxim/personal/takogo_kak_putin.mp3
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