"003" An American's Guide to Balašević Part 8

Part 8! I have recently learned that this is, in fact, my wife's absolute favorite album. I also learned that Glupo means STUPID and not SILLY, like I thought. So, please know that I am not calling him Stupid, but rather the endearing term "silly."
Table of contents:
25:06 - Track 1: Noć kad sam preplivao Dunav
34:22- Track 2: Baby Blue
42:28 - Track 3: Morao sam da se odselim
49:24 - Track 4: Bela Ladja
57:47 - Track 5: Al' se nekad dobro jelo
1:09:35 Track 6: Slovenska
1:26:00 - Track 7: Mani me se, lepa Nasto
1:35:07 Track 8: Olivera
1:40:43: Track 9: Put u središte zemlje
1:53:58 - Track 10: Badjne Vece
1:57:15 - Outro
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[@SojaTeks1]

Just one fact about Kinski and why he probably wrote the song and mentioned her name is that when his father first saw his future wife Olivera, she came to his home asking for Djole just to give him something he forgot at her student dorm, but he wasn't at home, so when he returned home his father told him: there was one girl here for you, you know she looks like or reminds me of N.Kinski, and told him I would be very happy if she could be my daughter in law...Keep up good work greetings to you and your wife and family from Makedonija

[@niami11]

I am from Romania, but grew up with Balasevic. Not too many Romanians have heard of him. Started really listening to his songs probably around the time 003 was released. I could listen to him for hours and forget about anything around me. I totally understand why your wife needs you to understand her through him. I wish you a wonderful discovery of him...her

[@kenjiogyvara757]

I was born in SFRJ and had to leave it when I was just 12,5 yo. I listened to these songs as a child, and never thaught about them the way you did, so thank you for starting it, and made me reconsider them. It is a year after you have published the video, so I am kinda late (allways a minute too late and a dollar too short), but still. I wanted to mention, that Dj.B. lived until the mid 90´s in Novi Sad (NEW USA :)) in the Jovana Cvijića street, so he never moved when he was 23. It is known about him, that he left middle school (High School) before graduation, so I believe, that the song "Morao sam da se odselim" is about the guilt of someone who made decision to pursue carrier of a musician, and leave the formal education, and then when he looked back at his High school pals he ralized, that they were full of hopes what will the become after graduation, but he ended up better. The rest was straightened up by other guys in the comment section. Baby Blue is really parody on americans. You just need to understand a bit better, what actually happened in the 90´s and to realize who is the one to blame. You are not geographically far from the culprit :) But thank you for promoting SFRJ culture, God bless you.

[@fey9915]

I'm from Croatia and have lived in US for 30 years. Still have no idea how to use articles properly, to the endless amusement of my friends :D I remember attempting to translate Slovenska for the first time for gf in college in mid 90s, and I still haven't come even close to succeeding. I don't think you'll ever see this, but anyway - think you're misunderstanding Olivera. He's not guy in 20s, he's "na pragu dvadesetih" so 18, 19 (and Olivera being 6 years younger would be 12 or 13). He's saying that he was slutting it out :D but if he knew she existed he'd wait instead - there's no any interaction between girl and young adult :) They met when he was 26, and given that he was semi rich young guy with car (that wasn't common thing in 70s) and parents that worked abroad and were absent he was quite a ladies man lol... and his song writing is much better for it IMO. Also Labin is right outside of Pula (probably 30 min drive) so of course he'd dedicate it to them if he had show in Pula.

[@irreal2]

Merry Christmas Professor! Another absolute winner of a Balašević video, thank you SO much. Thanks for the shoutout! I think you are way overstating my humble translation contribution, but it really touched me and I genuinely jumped around with joy when I heard my name! So, some notes from me, but keep in mind I was only born in 1989, so I'm not the best person to talk about what life was before the wars and the teardown of Yugoslavia. Baby blue: I don't think UDBA was as notorious as the German or Russian secret police. I also don't see any political angle to the song either. It's simply a rhyme referencing with UDBA being someone (something) who can closely follow a person. I believe the song is 100% comedic, and the rhymes are intentionally really goofy. I LOVED the song as a kid and it still gives me a chuckle for the pure silliness of it. That is not to say that the communist authorities were super chill and you had total freedom of speech. From what I know, the secret police definitely did do genuinely bad things, going as far as assassinating people who were really in their way. But I don't believe any artist got much more than a slap on the wrist or expulsion from state financial help, engagement in official capacity, etc. Like communism in general in Yugoslavia, UDBA was a *little bit* more chill and a little bit more liberal. Morao sam da odem: Again, very much spot on from you, with one notable exception. He does not claim that he left and then came back. The main line "I HAD to leave", just like in English, can be interpreted two ways. Either as him rationalising why he left ("I [just] had to!"), or as him analysing where he failed, what he should have done. [to achieve a better outcome] I HAD to leave [but sadly I didn't]) The context of the other lines unmistakably puts it in that category. In this song (much like in real life) he never left Novi Sad. But he still found big success (the big gig money making him stand out) Bela Lađa: Spot on! Literally nothing to add. Brilliant analysis. Fun fact: I live in Zemun :) Fun fact 2: Him calling his wife *very lovingly* "an otter" continued on. In 2016 he released a single where she is again an otter that wandered into town Al se nekad dobro jelo: 😂😂😂😂 spot on for the Vojvodina accent. Always loved this song. So silly, so funny, so hunger inducing. Slovenska: ........ 🤷‍♂ I'm sorry!! I might have made it much harder on you. I was trying to give you all the possibilities, and zero of my interpretation, zero of guessing what Balašević meant. Zero of how the people doing the translation interpreted it. I can only do so much in a Patreon comment! I realize it's so confusing if you don't read it slowly and many times :D. You could have called me and we could have talked for hours about this stuff (offer valid for ever and ever, on any topic, btw :D) Mani me se lepa nasto: Very much on point that using "comrade" is distancing and de-sexualizing. Very much on point. It's also silly, much like the rest of the song. As for the political angle... yeah, it's a thin line. He certainly has an affection with the west and the western culture, obviously. But he also makes various references to it being strange and he feels fine right there in Yugoslavia where he is. It's kinda middle ground, again like Yugoslavia leading the league of the non-aligned Olivera:

[@nvspace126]

The song Virovitica is a good follow-up song for that West vs East commentary :)

[@majabkelly]

In Slovenska, I *think* the black pigeon is the thought of dying, the fear of death. His simple Slavic soul weaves sorrow from happiness, and experiences the fear of death concurrently with the profound joy of being in love, and is eternally trapped in this cycle of holding irreconcilable extremes. The "world hidden behind golden clouds" is the afterlife, which he almost followed the black pigeon to, at the precise moment when he is experiencing this deep connection and intimacy with another human being (his wife). He is trying to lean into the love (which is why he is asking her to hold me "as hard, as best as you can") and tells her (and himself) that "it will soon be over", but his Slavic soul is forever destined to be restless and trapped between extreme joy and profound pain. At any case, that's how I understand it :)

[@TheVandolina]

Congratulatoins! New baby born! I'm sure they'll grow up to wonderful people by you and your wife's side. And, now, Slovenska: definitely one of my favourites! It's a song about death, and, at the same time about meaninig of life. He dreamed about a black pigeon, which took him to Heavens "behind the golden clouds". But he is afraid of dying, he's too young to die, and he asks his love to hug him and hold him tight, and not to let the black bird carry him away. Another line says:" I'm scared of the million candles glowing in the sky. Where does it end? For whom they dug such a deep well? Why does it all happens? Is anything up to man, or we're just here because of some cosmic balance? Etc.. And Slavic soul is a metaphore for sensitive, melanchonlic, poetic view of life. Anyway, it made you cry even you couldn't figure out the point at first. And, if you continue relising one video a year, maybe I won't live long enough to watch them all-ha, ha! Greetings from Sombor!

[@BoraZivkovic]

My father is from a small village on the Danube in Eastern Serbia near the town of Golubac. We had a house there and spent summers there, fishing, swimming in the Danube etc. And I was the kid with the guitar (decko s gitarom), playing and singing for a big group of friends every evening and deep into the night. This is also a place where Danube is very wide and dangerous. For many decades after WWII, this was a spot where Romanians would often try to swim over to Yugoslavia, occasionally surviving and getting caught (and usually returned). Thus, it was a border. So there were tall observation towers used by the military border patrol. We used to climb up on those. Occasionally we would meet the border patrol soldiers. Once they bumped into us while I was playing so they asked me to sing something. I sang "night when I swam over the Danube" which at that time was brand new and not yet well known - the album just came out. The soldiers gave me quite a look....

[@MacakPodSIjemom]

Actually, I remember from the time this song was new, there were interpretations that Balašević was inspired to write it exactly by those Romanians that swam across the Danube, and in late 1980's it was very often a case. Remember, in the song he mentions the Carpathians, which are in Romania, not in Hungary.

[@m.najdek9086]

Thank you so much, professor. Your interpretation of meaning of "Što luduje Od sreće tugu tka Moja prosta duša slovenska" is spot on. It is his, simple, Slavic soul that weaves sadness out of joy, and Balašević is asking why does it do it. Anecdote about Slovenska - before he died in his twenties, a son of my aunt's ex husband, requested it to be played at his funeral. The only reason I know that is because my aunt's ex husband said it when he heard the song while he was visiting us. He did not ask me to stop playing it, even though, I'm sure, it is not the type of music he enjoyed.

[@nvspace126]

It's always with great excitement that I watch one of your videos regarding Balasevic. It's always interesting to get a different perspective and more analytical view of his work. I had a few comments regarding some of the interpretation: 1- Luduje: This one is very hard to translate in the context (and I'm trying to approach it both from French and English) and the effort was very good. However, one thing I wanted to add, the source of the word comes from the word Ludovati. Which means to do things in an nonsensical almost crazy way (lud is translated directly to crazy). 2- Crni Golub (Black pigeon): This is a bit more a religious theme, it's essentially represents an angel coming for him, hence the gold clouds. I just wanted to comment on this, because if you travel through former Yugoslavia, you will see obituaries posted in villages/cities on street corners and some of them will have the symbol of the black pigeon. 3- Dukat: I don't remember if they do it in Vojvodina, but in Slavonia (Croatian border region to Vojvodina), there's a tradition to give either a necklace or earrings with ducat shapes as a dot/marriage proposal. So that folkloric imagery is still present in the region. 4- UDBA: In itself, the secret police was not something that was as representative of the State control as with the KGB and Stasi. People will usually call-out political prisons instead (Goli Otok would usually be referenced as the main political prison in the country) and the police itself. 5- Sombor: Did your wife ever made you listen to any Zvonko Bogdan songs? :) If not, listen to the song "U Tom Somburu", it will be a good follow-up to "Al' se nekad dobro jelo".

[@matrix_x_]

Very nice video. Slovenska. "Što luduje? Od sreće tugu tka." means: "Why is my soul going crazy? She weaves sadness from happiness". Balašević wonders in that verse: Why his songs make him and his listeners feel happy, when they are sad. Is his Slavic empathic soul to blame for that? Balašević often looks back at the figure of a clown who has a sad face drawn with make-up, and he laughs. He often wonders which is the real face, the one that laughs or the one that cries. He wonders if it's all just a cheap trick? Or are all these masks hiding pain and a completely different character? People often left Balašević's concerts in tears, but with a smile on their faces. Maybe it's that Slavic soul. On the other hand, it all reminds me of Freddie Mercury and his character in an advanced stage of the disease who, while singing, is both happy and sad at the same time. It is possible that what Balašević thinks and talks about is a universal phenomenon. The sadness in his songs leaves a feeling of happiness because there is always some hope and community between all the people who listen and him as one of them. In the end, it should be said that Balašević always emphasized how he addresses people who can be recognized by the way they look at each other. Often people in the Balkans say that the one who listens and likes Balasevic's songs cannot be a bad person. I think there is some truth in that because during his life he was attacked by bad people precisely because of that goodness and empathy in his songs. Bad people are simply annoyed by Balašević and his songs. He is like a kind of indicator to distinguish between good and bad people.

[@J.P.-13]

Baby Blue - he is so in awe with her, that he chickens out each time he is supposed to say something to her

[@J.P.-13]

Goofy would be "blesav", or "budalast" . "Glup" means stupid. But I'm sure your wife has already told you this by now 😀 So happy to hear about your new addition, congrats!

[@user-ly3fy9zc6x]

Great video! In Al se nekad dobro jelo they are visiting kumove (best man/godfather and his wife- kum and kuma), and it is very important to impress them with food, and God forbid to let them leave hungry. In Serbia kumovi are very important. Šta je Bog na nebu, kum je na zemlji. Your wife will explain you better.

[@niami11]

In "Noc kada sam preplivao Dunav" the story teller is an outlaw and a horse thief. This was a kind of disobedience, rebellion, opposition against Austro-Hungarian oppression. The Carpathians are between Serbia and Romania, which was at the time under the Austro-Hungarian empire.

[@biserkasertic1208]

The main motiv in "Slovenska" is irationalitiy of the slavic soul.The westerners are more rational, and due to same reason is difficult for them to understand this dimension of the inner slavic being. Reason why is the song "Put u središte Zemlje" dedicated to miners of Labin: 1)Balašević loves Istria (in his young days use to spent hollydays there) and later was very popular in this part of Croatia, 2)Labin miners were very rebelious in the past, and became a symbol of working class resistanece against capitalistic exploitation.

[@biserkasertic1208]

Something more about "Put u središte Zemlje"One of the strongest lines in this song is: "There is even posible to survive with one million and 2 hundreds" (dinars, wich was the YU currency.Because of the devastating inflation of this time (80's) this was very poore salary for the miners)

[@BoraZivkovic]

Yes, frushtuk is breakfast. Snenokle are floating islands, originating elsewhere (France?) but became hugely popular in the Balkans and became a part of local cuisine. My mom's were the best, of course. Snenokle for frustuk every morning if possible, please.

[@silviebee]

Balasevic had a special bond with the miners from Labin. Once, in his early career, he had a concert in Pula (I believe), and the hall was almost empty. He wanted to cancel the show, when one of the miners crossed his way and asked him to stay. The miners drove a long way to Pula, to see him, and told him "Ti si nas - you're ours". It was a humbling moment for him, he played for hours and no one was leaving after it was over. He said that next time he was in Pula, the hall was full, and he asked for the miners "but this was too bright for them".

[@sarabrenko5943]

He is asking why his slavic soul is going crazy/acting out, weaving sorrow out of joy. The ancient north is kind of the equivalent to the slavic soul in this context, he just introduces it by that name first "inside my veins the ancient north is lonesome, and I sometimes don't know what's wrong with it (him), why is it going crazy, weaving sorrow out of joy, that simple slavic soul of mine" Basically he is talking about those huge, emotions that sometimes take over us for no reason, that are hard to understand and he can only explain as "the slavic soul"

[@natesofa]

wow that is a long video. i need to catch up on this series 🚢🚢full steam ahead

[@mtlmns8167]

Congratulations on the new arrival and thanks so much for another great video! Just a note that Backa is one of the three regions that constitute Vojvodina. The other two are Srem (southwest) and Banat (east). Backa is the middle. Balasevic is not just from Vojvodina, he is from Backa, and what you call his Vojvodina accent is actually the Backa accent. People in Srem and Banat don't share quite the same sing-songy, super long vowel-y accent of Backa. Sombor, like Novi Sad, is also in Backa and yes, I highly recommend you visit it. Snenokle are îles flottantes which I'm sure you're familiar with. 😉

[@axlgzrdmattick]

2 hours??? (Love to see it)

[@vojteckibranko]

Oh man, I cant wait to see you listening next one. Panta Rei is probably best quality recorded. From Panta Rei starts golden era (for me) and you will start enjoy more and more in every next album.

[@vojteckibranko]

P.s. I hope you will chose that one before "Bezdan", they are same year

[@professorskye]

Yeah. I’m looking forward to Panta Rei. Unfortunately will have to do Bezdan first, which is my least favorite album that I’ve heard this far.

[@vojteckibranko]

@@professorskye than l hope you will do both, since they are same year 😂

[@axlgzrdmattick]

Toby is so cuuuuuttteee

[@KalifUmestoKalifa]

Yeah, "što" can be both "why" and "that"/"which" as in: "The Wind That Shakes the Barley"

[@karasu9]

hyped to watch this

[@dules65]

The song is about gypsies, if you watch the movie "Gypsies fly to the sky" it might be clearer to you...😀

[@daliborperkovic3918]

How does it feel stepping into deeper waters? Because it's going to get deeper.

[@paolomasia91]

I couldn't find the album on Spotify unfortunately, but I enjoyed your video all the way through, and it was good just only to reflecting about a variety of personal things (including relationships, coming back to my hometown after several years, and the amazing jugoslavian food that I used to to eat when I was living in Trieste, an italian city at the border with Slovenia). On what streaming platform may I listen to the album, Prof.? It's so great that you were and you still are so open and curious about her culture and traditions! This openness is common to a lot of Americans that I met throughout my life. Is this maybe a part of the "american soul"? When I think about the vision of the most recent Republican electorate I'm not sure anymore, but my personal experiences were all very positive in this regard. Apparently, tension between Serbia and Kosovo returned in the last months, it's a region that seems destined to be forever unstable. Hope that your wife's relatives are safe!

[@irreal2]

Your kindness and worry is endearing and much appreciated, but the "tension" right now is mostly staged and certainly no one from Serbia is in any way threatened or unsafe at all. It's really 100% business as usual. And yeah, I agree the region is destined to be somewhat unstable, but ceratinly not destined to be an actual warzone forever, very unlikely we will see that any time soon.

[@paolomasia91]

@@irreal2 it's good to hear that Milos, thanks for your clarification. I trust what you're saying, so hopefully there will be no escalation. P.s. when I was living in Trieste I visited your country a few times, It's so beautiful! Hope that I can go back there soon! Ja zelim ovo!

[@defufna]

​@@paolomasia91 You can find the album on KZbin. There's an official Balasevic channel that has most of his work uploaded...

[@raderadumilo7899]

5: Few weeks ago, McDonalds company made a decision: They officially left Bosnia and Herzegovina. They threw in the towel. The culture of fast food in Balkans is equally developed as food culture in general. 6: The most famous Montenegrin ruler and poet made a verse: A glass of honey no one was able to drink without bittering it with a glass of bile. A glass of bile seeks a glass of honey. Easiest to drink them mixed.

[@QuillPGall]

Love this album! A shame it’s not on streaming.

[@daliborperkovic3918]

I'll make notes as I listen. "Slovenska" is not that really hard to understand for non-Yugoslavians. Some songs definitely are, I don't think this one is one of them. About farming past: Yugoslavia is a backward place, it went through industrial revolution much later than the rest of Europe. In 1945 80-90% of population lived of land. "Glava je izbor tegoba", pretty much, I'd translate it as "the head is the source of problems", but it's almost the same thing. "Noć kad sam preplivao Dunav" was often used as an opening on a lot of concerts. fuĆkanje (fuCHkanje) - literally "whistling" UDBa was nowhere near Stasi or KGB. Yugoslavia was by definition authoritarian, however, it was infinitely more relaxed than the Eastern Block countries. UDBa specialised in fighting political opponents abroad and wasn't really notorious and feared in Yugoslavia, at least after the '50s. (Before that was close after-war so things were tense for various reasons, and 1948 was the year of the purge, but, again, if you were not into politics, you were more or less safe from them) About Baby Blue, here is a revelation. You had absolutely no way of knowing this so don't feel bad, but absolutely everybody in Yugoslavia needs one or two seconds of listening to the song to to realise that the main feature of the song is that Balašević is - get this - imitating the American accent. And for years and years it is a Yugoslav in-joke reveling in the pain someone will encounter when trying to translate "Al se nekad dobro jelo" :D No problem. Most of Yugoslavia agrees the best food is in Bosnia. Sidenote: Yugoslavia was a musical superpower, an par with France and Italy. The music simply didn't cross the borders. "Slavic soul" may be different for a lot of people, but what B. is referring to is the ancient eastern plains nostalgia, melancholy, emotion (but not the Mediterranean type of emotion), sadness (the Russian type), tragedy etc. And yes, the event with feeding the dog is a good description. And yes (2), crying while listening to Balašević is a well established feature. If it never happened to you, you are not human. Note: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labin_Republic

[@BoraZivkovic]

Yes, it's Nastassia not Natasha. And comrade is the same word as friend - "drug" - so yes it's friendzoning to call someone a "drug".

[@BoraZivkovic]

Balasevic rearranged and re-recorded some songs years later. A later Olivera is mostly piano. A later Badnje Vece has quite a lot of lyrics changed. I assume you will get to that album later.

[@juricaspindl]

I dont know about changed version of Badnje veče (I guess that poem is dedicated to the memory of his mom). I know for Lunjo new version, but Badnje veče was the same in all concert version I heard, and in his poetry book Dodir svile from 2022. If you have some other version, I would very much like to read it. Thanks

[@BoraZivkovic]

@@juricaspindl Oh yes, Lunjo has big changes in lyrics.

[@ethanlammar5554]

Day 59 of Asking for you to Review the song Achilles Come Down by Gang of Youths

[@dules65]

or likeliy NSA

[@dules65]

The vord "fućkam" its mean - i don"t care.