Seemingly my first scribbling of 1993, it is dated the same say as the listing I sent to new director Mark Bowden – see link to listing here.
Mark liked it and used it, although it is hardly a laugh out loud song. I think he used it as a tone down.watershed song. It ran for a while I recall, despite my profound inability to spell Nagorno-Karabakh back then. I might be the only NewsRevue lyricist to have used that place name and attempted to rhyme with it more than once.
The tune is Oliver’s Army by Elvis Costello – click here or below to see YouTube/Vevo.
Original lyrics of Oliver’s Army can be found if you click here.
♬ SLOBIDAN’S ARMY ♬
(To the Tune of “Oliver’s Army”)
VERSE 1
Don’t stop those peace talks,
They may last all night;
The Serbs are cruel war hawks,
Who try to get their own way through might.
Call in the United Nations,
Have you got a peaceful army? – cos
CHORUS 1
Slobidan’s Army’s from Serbia,
Slobidan’s Army has gone too far,
And I would rather be anywhere else than Bosnia.
MIDDLE BIT
Radovan Karadzic,
Hates Izetbegovic;
He may flatten Kosovo,
After he’s laid out Sarajevo,
With the Serbs from the mountains and Montenegro.
VERSE 2
The blood is flowin’,
Every time those Serbs advance;
In spite of David Owen,
And his old has been side kick named Cyrus Vance.
If you think the Slavs are out of luck,
You should see Nagorno-Karaback.
CHORUS 2
Slobidan’s army has gone too far,
Slobidan’s death toll is costlier,
And I would rather be anywhere else than Bosnia.
(Except Somalia, Cuba or Iran,
Or in Cambodia, Chad or Kurdistan.)
copyright © Ian Harris 1993