Album Concept
The story of the album was inspired by a Borislav Pekić book Odbrana i poslednji dani. The novel is a comical view on a man who was a lifeguard on the Tisa river during the last years of the World War II. The man, not very educated, got arrested because he found his first drowned victim, a German soldier. The story of the novel continues with presenting and making fun of his internal conflicts due to his lack of knowledge and a macho attitude. Idoli used the mental state of this man who was disoriented and confused with his surroundings and moved it to the urban background and the present moment (used in the song "Kenozoik"). At any point the story of the novel is connected to the album story as the band focused only on the psychological approach of the novel.
The song "Poslednji dani" (originally entitled "Maršal") represents a man who feels very joyous and romantic at night, a time when his hidden personality shows up. Unlike the man in the novel, who loves the river and enjoys spending time at the empty river bank as the river is his "God", the man in the song loves his Marshall (Tito) who is his "God". The record company did not agree with the last verse of the song as it was directly referring to Josip Broz Tito so the band had to change the song title and remove the last verse.
"Moja si" is one of the strangest Idoli songs. The main character personality becomes divided, and his male personality becomes substituted with a female. In the mirror he sees a woman he would like to be, filled with strange comparisons and statements that shows a deep psychological disorder, which in a different form happened to the main character of the novel.
"Senke su drugačije" present a man determined to leave home. He feels a complete alienation in his surroundings, but is also afraid to leave as the paths are "narrow and dangerous". The structure of the song is keyboard and brass oriented with a march rhythm. In the novel the main character was forced to go to Germany. The story continues with "Nemo" in which the man is completely occupied with the thoughts of the place he is in and continues wandering in the world he can not adopt to.
The next two tracks deal with a complete opposition to the main character in the novel. The first "Rusija" is a romantic ballad about a college student who lives in an apartment with his girlfriend which is a very strong working-class girl. The main character in the novel did not study and did not like dancing which is the topic of "Igrale se delije", a rockabilly song which calls everyone to dance. The backing vocals lyrics include "Igrale se delije nasred zemlje Srbije" which was a popular folk song during the World War II.
"Jedina (Uzurlikzurli)" is a rockabilly song which tells the story of a man who would like to tell a girl he loves her but has a problem doing it. "Odbrana" (originally entitled "Isus je naš maj") is a sophisticated song about a lonely man who is far away from everything he loves and who misses his old life by the river. "Glavna ptica (skrati svoj dugački jezik)" is talking about barricades, tear-gas, road blocks which are connected to war, the man in the novel could not understand.
Read more about this topic: Odbrana I Poslednji Dani
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