Kad bi bio bijelo dugme

Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme (trans. If I Were a White Button) is the 1974 debut studio album from influential Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme.

Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme
Studio album by
Bijelo Dugme
Released18 November 1974
RecordedAkademik Studio, Ljubljana
September 1974
GenreHard rock
Folk rock
Progressive rock
Blues rock
Length34:24
LabelJugoton
ProducerBijelo Dugme
Bijelo Dugme chronology
Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme
(1974)		 Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu
(1975)

The album was polled the 14th on the 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums list in the 1998 book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).[1]

Recording

Prior to the release of the album, Bijelo Dugme had large success with their 7-inch singles. The band's record label, Jugoton, intended to release Bijelo Dugme's first album during the spring of 1975, but the group's manager, Vladimir Mihaljek, managed to persuade the label's executives to release the record during the autumn of 1974.[2] The recording sessions started on 2 October 1974 in Akademik Studio in Ljubljana.[3] The album was produced by the band themselves, with the help of Akademik Studio's producer Dečo Žgur.[3] The album featured a new version of the title track, which the band had originally released as a 7-inch single in 1973 while still performing under the name Jutro.[4]

Album cover
A young guy came up to me on the street to ask: 'Do you know that girl?', pointing out a girl short distance away. I looked at her, recognizing the girl I photographed for the cover. I waved hello, and the guy went over to her, slapped her in the face, calling her a whore. I asked him: 'Why?'. He said she had told him that she was the one from the album cover, and that he only wanted to make sure if I really knew her. After that, they left together like nothing happened...

-Dragan S. Stefanović[5]

The album cover was designed by designer Dragan S. Stefanović who would go on to design covers for the band's future releases as well.[4] Four decades after the album release, it was revealed that the name of the model was Ljiljana Božanić.[6]

Rock critic Dražen Vrdoljak stated in 1981 that Kad bi bio bijelo dugme album cover "represented a shift in conceiving the covers of domestic [Yugoslav] rock albums, identical to the shift Bregović's music made on our rock scene".[5]

Track listing

All the songs were written by Goran Bregović, except where noted.

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" ("If I Were a White Button")  10:23
2."Blues za moju bivšu dragu" ("Blues For My Ex-Darling")  6:23
3."Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira" ("Don't You Sleep, Baby, while the Music Is Playing")  2:30
4."Sve ću da ti dam, samo da zaigram" ("I'll Give You Everything Only to Dance")  4:04
5."Selma"V. DijakG. Bregović6:10
6."Patim, evo, deset dana" ("I've Been Suffering for Ten Days Now")  4:51

Personnel

Additional personnel
  • Miro Bevc – engineer
  • Dragan S. Stefanović – design, cover photo
  • Boris Dučić – photography

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
DžuboksFavorable[7]

The album was well received by audience and critics alike.[4] In a Džuboks review, Maksa Ćatović wrote:

The sounds imprinted on this record can with full confidence be referred to as Yugoslav pop music. YU Grupa used to incorporate folk motifs, and now the Bijelo Dugme guys are doing it, seemingly much better and much closer to the audience's taste. We could even call this the first Yugoslav rock album.[7]

The intro to the album's opening track was referred to as "pastirski" (shepherd-like) by rock critic Dražen Vrdoljak in his review published on 30 November 1974 in Studio. Few weeks later, a write-up about the album in Tina used the term "pastirski rok" (shepherd rock). The term was soon picked up by a wider section of the Yugoslav public and used frequently, often pejoratively, to describe Bijelo Dugme's Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin-influenced hard rock sound mixed in with the Balkans folk music elements.[5][8][9]

The album's biggest hits were the title track, rock and roll-influenced hit "Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira", and the ballad "Selma".[4] Immediately upon its release, the album broke the record held by YU Grupa's debut album, which sold in more than 30,000 copies.[4] In February 1975, the band was awarded a gold record at the Opatija Festival, as they sold their debut album in more than 40,000 copies.[4] The final number of copies sold was about 141,000.[4]

Legacy

The album was polled in 1998 as the 16th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (YU 100: The Best Albums of Yugoslav Pop and Rock Music).[1]

The title track was polled in 2000 as the 97th on the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list.[10]

Covers
  • Yugoslav pop trio Aska recorded a Bijelo Dugme songs medley on their 1982 album Disco Rock, featuring, among other Bijelo Dugme songs, "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" and "Patim, evo, deset dana".[11]
  • Yugoslav and Bosnian folk rock band Nervozni Poštar recorded a cover of "Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira" on their 1987 album Ništa više nije kao prije (Nothing's like It Used to Be).[12]
  • Serbian and Yugoslav singer-songwriter Srđan Marjanović recorded a cover of "Selma" on his 1989 album Ako jednom puknem ja (If I Go into Pieces One Day).[13]
  • Slovenian and Yugoslav rock band Sokoli recorded a cover of "Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira", featuring guest appearance by Serbian and Yugoslav musician Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga" on vocals, on their 1992 album Satan je blazn zmatran (Satan Is Dog Tired).[14]
  • Serbian rock band Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi recorded a cover of "Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira" on their 1994 live album Igra rokenrol SR Jugoslavija (FR Yugoslavia Is Dancing to Rock 'n' Roll).[15]
  • Croatian pop singer Severina Vučković recorded a cover of "Ne spavaj, mala moja, muzika dok svira" on her 1993 album Dalmatinka (Girl from Dalmatia).[16]
  • Serbian pop rock band Cony recorded a cover of "Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme" on their 1993 album Šta bih dao da sam na tvom mjestu (What Would I Give to Be in Your Place), the title of the album alluding to the title of Bijelo Dugme's second album, Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu (What Would You Give to Be in My Place).[17]
  • Yugoslav singer-songwriter and former Azra leader Branimir "Džoni" Štulić released covers of "Selma" and "Kad bi bio bijelo dugme" on his official YouTube channel in 2011 and 2012 respectively.[18]

References
  1. Antonić, Duško; Štrbac, Danilo (1998). YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske pok i pop muzike. Belgrade: YU Rock Press.
  2. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 57.
  3. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 58.
  4. Janjatović, Petar (2007). EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960–2006. Belgrade: self-released. p. 32.
  5. Krstulović, Zvonimir (2005). Bijelo Dugme: Doživjeti stotu. Profil. p. 25.
  6. Vesić, Dušan (2014). Bijelo Dugme: Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu. Belgrade: Laguna. p. 65.
  7. "Bijelo Dugme – Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme". Džuboks (in Serbian). Gornji Milanovac: Dečje novine (5 (second series)): 22.
  8. Jurica Pavičić – "Bijelo dugme", Jutarnji list
  9. "Bregovićevi uzori opet jašu". Muzika.hr. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2011.
  10. "100 najboljih pesama svih vremena YU rocka". Rock Express (in Serbian). Belgrade: Rock Express (25): 27–28.
  11. Disco Rock at Discogs
  12. Ništa više nije kao prije at Discogs
  13. Janjatović, Petar (2007). EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960–2006. Belgrade: self-released. p. 143.
  14. Satan je blazn zmatran at Discogs
  15. окенрол-СР-ЈугосÐ/release/1665880 Igra rokenrol SR Jugoslavija at Discogs
  16. Dalmatinka at Discogs
  17. Šta bih dao da sam na tvom mestu at Discogs
  18. "SELMA" via Branimir Štulić, YouTube
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