Ho ho ho ho! Svetlana, come here, I have story to tell you. You know, it was Neil Armstrong jumping up and down on the Moon. Oh, we laughed back in Moscow when we saw that.

Remember the Fifties, those fat complacent days
When the future seemed a century away?
Then up went Sputnik, gave the world a butt-kick,
And made it clear tomorrow starts today.

        Beep beep beep beep…Hello there!
        Sputnik sails giggling through the skies.
        Red flags, red faces, jump into the race
        As the space age begins with a surprise.

You generals once thought Von Braun a waste of cash,
And Goddard needed treatment really bad.
Then that global shot put gave you the hotfoot
And—beep beep—you’re blasted off the pad.

Done for a threat, propaganda or prestige—
The point is, the thing was in the sky.
It made the generals frown and put their money down,
And meet that bet or know the reason why.

That’s how it started, all those years ago,
The push that got us climbing into space.
Cynic beginnings, greed for big winnings.
But look at all we’ve gotten from that race!

Ho ho ho ho! Surprise, surprise! Big, big, big surprise! Bolshoi! You astronauts, you don’t know what a “cosmonaut“ is, do you? Ho ho ho ho! Now you do, now you do, da! Bolshoi, surprise to you!

Sputnik wore out, and spiraled back to Earth;
On re-entry it burned up very soon.
Hail and goodbye to that goose up in the sky—
And in twelve more years a man walked on the Moon!

Ho ho ho ho ho ho! Surprise!

Surprise!