[7] It told about an episode of the 1670–1671 Russian Peasant Uprising in which Razin allegedly killed his captive, a beautiful Persian princess whom he had just married.

Razin throws the princess from his boat into the River Volga, in a gesture addressed to his disgruntled jealous comrades who accuse him of "mellowing down" after just one night spent with a woman.

It is played to symbolic effect by the band in a cafe in the 1988 film The Unbearable Lightness of Being after Soviet tanks have crushed the Prague Spring.

The American folk singer Pete Seeger wrote an English language version of "Stenka Razin" called "River of My People" in the 1950s.

This provided the basis for his new lyrics, including those in the chorus which compare the lovers to the perpetually unhappy Commedia dell'arte characters: "But the joys of love are fleeting / For Pierrot and Columbine.

[13] The German band Boney M. released their cover version of the Seekers' song in 1982 under the title "The Carnival Is Over (Goodbye True Lover)".

The song featured Liz Mitchell on lead vocal, and included a new original verse by producer Frank Farian and lyricist Catherine Courage to introduce Reggie Tsiboe as a vocalist following the departure of Bobby Farrell from the band.

[15] Farian attempted to remedy this failure by producing a number of shorter versions, culminating in a release for the Japanese market in which Tsiboe's interpolated verse was omitted.