Mikhail Isakovsky was born in Glotovka, Yelninsky Uyezd, Smolensk Governorate, to a poor peasant family of ethnic Russians.

The most famous are "Katyusha (Катюша)" (music by Matvey Blanter), "The Enemy Burned My Native Hut (Враги сожгли родную хату)" (music by Matvey Blanter), "In the Frontier Forest (В лесу прифронтовом)", and "Migrant Birds Fly (Летят перелётные птицы)", and "Lonely Accordion (Одинокая гармонь)".

The song "The Enemy Burned My Native Hut (Враги сожгли родную хату)" (1945) was officially criticized for "pessimism" and was not printed or sung until 1956.

[2] As a result of cooperation with Vladimir Zakharov, Isakovsky's poems set to music appear in the repertoire of the Pyatnitsky Choir.

He also published a book on the subject of poetry, О поэтическом мастерстве ('On Poetic Mastery').