‘Nikita’ by Elton John – Classic Hit or Miss

Nikita" is a song by English singer Elton John about the Cold War from his 1985 album Ice on Fire. Released late in the year, the song was successful in many countries and was a top ten hit in almost all of them. In the song, Elton John describes his crush on a beautiful East German border guard whom he cannot meet because he is not allowed into the country. It features George Michael on backing vocals, and is notable for a distinctive synthesizer solo. The song charted at #3 on the UK Singles Chart and also made the top 10 in the US, charting at #7.The video for the song "Nikita", directed by Ken Russell, featured Anya Major in the role of Nikita and a cameo appearance by Justin Lewis. Russell says he didn't realise that Nikita was a man's name in the Russian language (e.g. Nikita Khrushchev) and Elton John accepted the proposed script written by Russell which was a male-female love interpretation of the song, as indeed the depicted East German border guard in the video is a beautiful blonde woman with short hair.

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, On 31 October 2012, a US federal judge granted John and Taupin's motion to dismiss, finding that the song did not infringe Hobbs's copyright because the only similar elements were generic images and themes that are not protected under copyright law.