When we were making the record, we approached it as our final album, because everything pointed to it: Ipe returned to the band, the cover was designed by [Dragan S.] Stefanović [the band's old collaborator], the 'human factor' made a full circle, moving forward would have only meant doing it all over again from the beginning. I thought we should make that Belgrade Fair concert the last ever Bijelo Dugme show. Raka [Marić, the band's manager] cried, we brought all our friends from Sarajevo to make ourselves feel at home... It was a very strange concert, and, in all that euphoria, we thought that it would be a shame if we split up.
The band's leader, guitarist Goran Bregović, originally intended to release Uspavanka za Radmilu M. as Bijelo Dugme's farewell album and to dismiss the band after the promotional tour.[2] Unlike the band's previous albums, Uspavanka za Radmilu M. was not followed by a large promotion in the media.[3]
The album was recorded in Skopje. Uspavanka za Radmilu M. was the band's first album since the 1977 live album Koncert kod Hajdučke česme to feature drummer Ipe Ivandić, who returned to the band at the end of 1982, replacing Garabet Tavitjan, who performed with the band only on the 1982 Bulgarian tour.[2] The album was produced by Bregović and Gajo Vučićević[4] and featured Leb i Sol member Vlatko Stefanovski (guitar), Blagoje Morotov (double bass) and Arsen Ereš (saxophone) as guest musicians.[4] It was mixed in Britannia Row Studios in London.[4] The songs "Ako možeš zaboravi" ("Forget, If You Can"), "U vrijeme otkazanih letova" ("In the Time of Canceled Flights"), "Polubauk polukruži poluevropom" ("Half-Spectre Is Half-Haunting Half-Europe", the title referring to the first sentence of The Communist Manifesto) and "Ovaj ples dame biraju" ("Ladies' Choice") featured diverse sound, illustrating various phases in the band's career.[2][5] The title track, which closes the album, is the only instrumental track Bijelo Dugme ever recorded.[2]
At that point, to sing a song in Albanian was, above all, a perfect political provocation. It was the period after the state of emergency in Kosovo, after the events that had left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth. After those events, in everyone's thoughts about Kosovo there was no need to break down the walls, but to keep strengthening them, and in 1983 everything seemed even harder than two years earlier – only the state of emergency had ended. Maybe the ones who claim that, at that point, it was already too late for the things in Kosovo to change are right, but that Don Quixotesque attempt by Bijelo Dugme remains a notable moment. As Bregović explained: 'I thought that, after all those years living with Albanians, we should have learnt some Albanian words.'
The song "Kosovska" ("Kosovo Song") featured Albanian language lyrics.[2] Written during delicate political situation in Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, the song represented Bregović's effort to integrate the culture of Kosovo Albanians into Yugoslav rock music.[6] Although lyrics were simple, dealing with rock music, the song caused certain controversies.[2][6] Reminiscing on the song, Željko Bebek in 2017 described it as a "revolutionary move" and praised its "beautiful lyrics", but also said he was very reluctant to sing it because he felt that Bijelo Dugme was starting to take an overt political stance, something he was not comfortable with. In his view, the song introduced discord within Bijelo Dugme, which ultimately led to his departure from the band.[7]
Album cover
The album cover was designed by Bijelo Dugme's old collaborator Dragan S. Stefanović.[4] It featured an embossed print of a pillow on front and back cover.[4]
Track listing
All songs written by Goran Bregović, except where noted.
No.
Title
Lyrics
Music
Length
1.
"Polubauk polukruži poluevropom" ("Half-Spectre is Half-Haunting Half-Europe")
3:57
2.
"Drugovi i drugarice" ("Comrades and Comradettes")
Upon its release, the album received mostly negative reactions by the critics.[8]Džuboks critic Ljubo Trifunović wrote:
Uspavanka za Radmilu M. is, without any doubt, the worst Bijelo Dugme album to date, objectively speaking. It indicates the forthcoming end of the first superstars of Yugoslav rock, revealing fatigue, negligence, and diminishing inventiveness of Bregović & Co.[8]
Another Džuboks critic, Branko Vukojević, wrote: "It seems like Bijelo Dugme wanted to return, but had nothing to return to."[9]
Despite negative reaction from the critics, the tour was very successful, and the audience's response made Bregović change his mind about dismissing the band.[2]
Video album
The release of the Uspavanka za Radmilu M. album was followed by the release of an eponymous VHS cassette featuring videos for all the album tracks. The cassette also included some recordings from the concerts from the beginning of the Uspavanka za Radmilu M. tour.[10] The cassette was the first project of the kind in the history of Yugoslav rock music.[11] The videos were directed by Boris Miljković and Branimir "Tucko" Dimitrijević.[10] The video for the song "Ovaj ples dame biraju" was the first gay-themed video in Yugoslavia.[10]
Legacy
It seems that not all of us managed to see — or managed to see clearly — Bijelo Dugme's moving forward. We were frantically digging in the past, and found some sort of synthesis of the first album's spontaneity, the second album's sentimentality, the third album's force, and the fourth album's big words. The way remained the same, but the methods changed. It wasn't the same Bijelo Dugme. Up to that point, Bregović stood on the river bank, waiting to see what the water will bring, fishing and adapting, staying on the levee the whole time. Suddenly, you could feel that he bought a boat, and that soon he will dare to swim. He was getting more and more interested into rock as a media, and less and less for the limitations of its musical forms.
