In the song, Elton John describes his crush on a person called Nikita, an East Germanborder guard whom he cannot meet because he is not allowed into the country. It features George Michael on backing vocals and Nik Kershaw on guitar. The song charted at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, and at number 7 in the US.
Composition
The song is composed in the key of G major in 4/4 time. The song employs a verse-chorus-verse format, with the second chorus being shorter than the first, plus a mechanically-themed breakdown halfway through the second chorus.
Video settings and song information
The video for the song was directed by Ken Russell. Elton John accepted the proposed script written by Russell which was a male-female love interpretation of the song, depicting his attempted romance of a blonde woman East German border guard with short hair. Scenes showed the two together in various happy situations, including wearing the colours of Watford FC of whom John is a supporter and former Chairman. In interviews, John has said that he was aware that Nikita was a male name in Russian. Anya Major plays the role of Nikita; Andreas Wisniewski plays a male border guard. In 1986, in the wake of the song's success, Major recorded a spin-off song titled "Moscow Nights" which she released under the stage name "Anya".
Allegation of plagiarism
Elton John, Bernie Taupin and Big Pig Music were accused of plagiarism by South African photographer and songwriter Guy Hobbs. Hobbs wrote a song in 1982 entitled "Natasha", about a Russian waitress on a cruise ship, who was never allowed to leave it. The song was copyrighted in 1983, and sent to Big Pig Music for a possible publishing deal, but Hobbs never heard back from the publisher. In 2001, Hobbs came across the lyric book to "Nikita" and noticed similarities with his song. Despite repeated attempts by Hobbs to contact John over the issue, he never heard from him and so commenced legal action in 2012. On 31 October 2012, a US federal judge granted John and Taupin's motion to dismiss, finding that the song did not infringe Hobbs' copyright because the only similar elements were generic images and themes that are not protected under copyright law.
Track listings
; 7" single
"Nikita" — 4:54
"The Man Who Never Died" — 5:10
; 12" maxi
"Nikita" — 5:43
"The Man Who Never Died" — 5:10
"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" — 3:26
"I'm Still Standing — 4:38
Personnel
Elton John – Yamaha GS1 piano, lead vocal, synthesizer, backing vocals
