“Ra Ra Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen”: there is quite a few articles dealing with the biographic accuracy of Boney M’s song. Most think they followed Henri Troyat’s quasi-historical narrative in his novel with the same title.
One of the most apparent fails is the line “But to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dear”: Rasputin moved from his remote village directly to Saint Petersburg in 1903 to be killed somewhat a decade later. He was hardly ever reported to have visited Moscow. Boney M themselves did sing on the Red Square, but not Rasputin.
One really amazing detail was, however, noticed only later: the song uses the final motive of the Turkish folk song Kâtibim / Üsküdar. Score and Turkish-English texts attached.
Original title (English): Boney M “Rasputin”
First published in the Levinarium Telegram Channel (now closed and deleted)