Mirka [English translation]

You heard of Zlatni Bokal

It is a very sketchy tavern

But the chef is a real champion.

I was sitting alone

Drinking Jack and Coke

When I heard a voice:

"I recognize you from the TV.

You are the pride of our region.

My nine-year-old daughter

Knows every song of yours, every line."

Those wonderful words,

Prompted me to offer him a seat (he has been waiting for that).

He said: "Hm, I am in the orchestra,

The one singing is my sister,

We have been here for a month and a half.

We wouldn't want to harass you,

But we would like to play something.

It is one schlager*, yours, of course,

we would like to hear what you think."

And then he said: "Mirka, my only love,

Who is touching you now?

Who is playing outside your window?

Mirka, we could have had a happy life,

If you had found the right way

To my sad heart."

I promised to help him

As much as I could

But I am just a singer.

He said: "All the producers

Are just failed conductors, nobody has the vision.

We have been playing for years,

But we haven't earned much.

Listen to us at least one more time,

This is the real thing, a big hit!"

And then he said: "Mirka, my only love,

Who is touching you now?

Who is playing outside your window?

Mirka, we could have had a happy life,

If you had found the right way

To my sad heart."

We had a very long talk afterward, about music -

What else, we drank a lot.

Since then I haven't been working a lot,

I am not trying to find an excuse,

But that is the reason.

That performance,

Appears like a hallucination,

It is haunting me, torturing, coming back,

Always, like a boomerang,

That silly, lovely chorus.

And then he said: "Mirka, my only love,

Who is touching you now?

Who is playing outside your window?

Mirka, we could have had a happy life,

If you had found the right way

To my sad heart."

• Artist:Đorđe Balašević
• Album:Odlazi cirkus (1980)