On Je Mladji [English translation]

He’s younger, he was born later and doesn’t understand, why his father’s saying

that all Serbs should hang on the willows,

How to explain that he happens to love her, love a Serbian woman

Happens to be Milan’s daughter, how to explain to his father who had a shrapnel in him

His whole squad was killed by Serbs

How to explain the game in which he was always first in line,

That she was born in Zagreb in 85’

Same as himself, and that now she happens to be carrying

His child

The old man will need Xanax like she needed beer

back then, when all this started, when she was with him on the class trip

They are urban children, they run off to exes and to parties,

They don’t care about helping animals and don’t care about Communist parties,

They only like Dinamo, and Edi and Tuzda,

They’re pacificsts and boycott everything made in the USA,

They’re the capital, Aquarius, they are Radio 101,

If you ask them who’s the president, they will say “I don’t know,”

It’s too late for an abortion, but in truth, they don’t want one

They love each other, both mature, they want their child.

“I have a plan,” he would say to them, “Mom and Dad, this is Ana,”

That’s what everyone calls her anyway, she’ll let it go and won’t say her real name is Milana

But no…no…, they would find out sooner or later,

The old man likes when I’m honest, that’s why I’ll go tell them now

Travno, use the elevator and onto the 4th floor

Last name Marušić, his mother opens the door for them

“Good evening, hi Mom, the cabbage rolls smell nice,

This is my girlfriend;”

“Pleased to meet you Mrs., my name is Milana.”

“I am Maria, come in, dinner will be ready soon, help yourself.”

“You’re in amazing shape, head towards the dinner table, I’ll be there soon.”

Dad is sitting at the table with a beer, smoking a Kolumbo cigarette

On the wall hangs Franjo, and a souvenir from the war, a bayonet.

“Who is that my eyes see, Jesus Almighty, my son,”

He firmly shakes his son’s sweaty hand and asks, “What is your name,”

“Milana,” she answers softly, “And I’m really pleased to meet you.”

“Last name? It doesn’t matter…Actually…, it does little girl, it does matter!

You bring Chetniks into my house, you have balls!”

“That’s not the entire story old man, Milana’s pregnant with my child,

3 months now, we came here to tell you the news

And then we’ll leave and stop by her parents, Milan and Jele,

“Franjo, that’s their life, let our children do what they want.”

“Mama, we came here to tell you first that we’re getting married.”

“If you think you’re marrying her, then the little boy can comfortably get the fuck out

Of the apartment, but we both know, you have nowhere to go!”

He just got up from the table, looked at Milana, and told her:

“Milana, come on, let’s get the fuck out of here!”

“Ivan, stop!” Ivan stopped, his father fell to the ground,

His father fell into tears, in his right hand, a fuse,

His father is sobbing, in his left hand a bomb from Kragujevac,

His heart is rattling him and he states, “Oh, not my children,

there’s no difference whether this Serbian shrapnel explodes, or, whether I have a Serbian grandchild,

both would hurt the same, they would both result in my death!”

“Listen to me father,

I’ve had enough of you and war,

Of Ustashas and Chetniks, Partisans and Home Guards,

I love her more than you love this country,

Tudjman and the generals,

I love her and I don’t give a shit about anyone else,

She’s my applause, she’s my Operation Storm,

My Church and my Pope

She is my souvenir from the war,

An UNPROFOR coat,

She is my Hague bench,

She and my child are more important to me than you and all that combined!”

His father froze, he’s not moving, he can’t say a word,

Maria is using her calming hands on his arms,

Within the room, torment and noise is coming from the stereo,

The stereo is playing and Mate Bulić ”The Pine Trees are Burning,”

“It burns, it burns, that bitch,”

He’s burning on the inside as he watches his son, who doesn’t give two shits about him,

He really is happy with that Chetnik bitch,

He’s watching his Ivan, his own child, how brave and bold he is, like himself in the 90s.

But he’s currently not ready for all that, he’s ready to desert him

He’s not indifferent, he’ll live without the help of his mother and father,

Prideful, but afraid, he's leaving the street Božidara Markovca Travnog with Milana,

He’s holding Milana’s hand firmly,

“I love you” says the kid to the other kid,

Everything will be okay, TRUST ME! DON”T WORRY”

Ivan started yelling, no no no no

After hearing the explosion from the Kragujevac bomb upon entering the Utrina neighborhood,

Just before HGSPOT, Ivan bent over and started sobbing,

On the Zagreb asphalt, now, it’s as if he knows what is war…

• Artist:Edo Maajka
• Album:No Sikiriki