Sa druge strane jastuka

Compositions

In a 2009 interview with journalist Aleksandar Arežina, Bajagić sommented on the songs:

"220"

"We played the song for the first time on a concert in Kulušić. [...] I had a good riff, and I wanted a song for concert openings. The riff goes, then the drum, [...] then the whole band. We used to open and close concerts with '220' for a long time. I always loved the songs like "Should I Stay or Should I Go", the ones with a good riff. Nele Stamatović played the solo which we didn't like straight away, so we made an agreement - he will play the solo, and we will play it backwards. The most interesting thing now is that when [Marko Nježić] Kića learned to play the solo, he, without knowing, played the solo like on the album."

"Vidi šta mi je uradio od pesme, mama"

The song is a cover of Melanie Safka song "What Have They Done to My Song Ma". Bajagić commented:

"I loved that Melanie Safka's song when I was a kid because it had a good melody and a stanza in French, which I thought was interesting. Bata did the arrangements, and I think he did it great. He played the harmonica solo on the synthy, and did it great. It was among the first songs [from the album] to become a hit, because people already knew it. Cukić sings a part of it. Deša [Cukić] is great on stage, [...] he can't stay still."

"Nemoj da budeš nja nja"

"I loved reggae, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Eddy Grant. At the time of the first album I even used to wear a rastacap. The song was played by [Goran Grbić] Grba, Neša Petrović and a young jazz crew, not by Stjepko and Mića. We thought they [Grbić and Petrović] weren't that perfect as these old guys [Stjepko Gut and Mića Marković]. Reggae is always played a little bit sloppy. We wanted to have something like brass players from Jamaica, which never sound like jazz musicians, but as amateurs playing trumpets. These guys [Grbić and Petrović] weren't amateurs, but were still young jazzers at the time. One of the dearest reggae pieces I made."

"Ti se ljubiš (Na tako dobar način)"

"A classic rock song we did in pop arrangement. That was the time when stuff like Billy Idol was very popular. [...] The guitar was played by Krle [Dragan Jovanović of Generacija 5]. [...] On concerts we adjusted 'Ti se ljubiš' to rock 'n' roll, because that's what it basically is. On Sa druge strane jastuka it was adjusted to the time."

"Dobro jutro, džezeri"

"We all loved jazz, especially Vlajko [Golubović]. In the Youth Center, where we had rehearsals, was a jazz club which worked until two A.M., which wasn't a custom at the time. We often hanged out with jazzers, because we used to keep our instruments in the same room and we often used to stay together until three or four A.M. [The verse] 'Dole ispod Slavije, kada šina savije' ('Down under Slavija, where the tram road turns') is a real experience from when we used to go home from the Youth Center. Later, one of the jazzer said to me: 'You're not a jazzer, but you made one of the rare domestic jazz standards'."

"Sa druge strane jastuka"

"A ballad that moves a little bit towards reggae. [...] Mića and Stjepko played a very good theme here. Sounds great, although it wasn't easy to play. I think that Sa druge strane jastuka is a good name for an album. All the love songs there are in a way on the other side of the pillow when you sleep. The name of the album should be something that can connect other songs as well."

"Šarene pilule za Li-Lu-Le"

"A funny anti-drug song. At the time, people used to take all sorts of things. I think that the video, directed by Miša Vukobratović's, in which Žika plays a doctor with a beard, is the best explanation of the song. The song itself is a half-punk with a melodic refrain. It's a small sting directed towards psychiatry. Even during socialism psychiatrists used to resolve a lot of problems with pills instead of conversation. The easiest thing to do is to prescribe pills to someone. [...] A critic to that sort of system."

"Dvadeseti vek"

"I wanted to have a song good for discothèques. Disco rock with a slight influence of James Brown and of course of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9. I loved the film Twentieth Century, it was an interesting title, so I wrote the song. There's a little critic of playback singer. We thought it was crazy [...] Deception of the audience! I wrote a rap segment for Žika to sing. Rap wasn't that popular at the time, but there were short forms in which someone talked. I thought it would be fun if there was another voice. I always did that, to have both male and female voices. I can only listen to Johnny Cash singing twelve songs alone."

"Francuska ljubavna revolucija"

"Bata thought that a French accordion would sound great there. Our friend Mita, a folker, knew to play some French stuff on the accordion. Žika was singing on a partly fictional French [...] Then I wrote new lyrics, and Bata and Žika agreed it should be followed by march. And it sounds great, a great act on the concerts. We played on some festival in Toulouse in 1985, and they thought it was interesting."

"Nemoj da se zezaš sa mnom"

"I wanted us to have a classic twelve bar rock and roll, because it's always good for concerts. A fun song, with lyrics without much importance, like in the most of twelve bars."

"Zažmuri"

"I wrote it in my apartment in Kosovska Street. Slow tempo, my voice additionally low and only three chords, but I think it has a good atmosphere. The first song with atmosphere of which I was completely satisfied. The arrangements were done by Bata, we didn't interfere into his job. I think he did it great. Actually, It's a very simple song. In it I showed that sometimes the simplest is the best. Somewhere between a ballad and a lullaby. For the Hit meseca [Hit of the Month] show everybody used to choose a song with which they would be represented. We chose "Zažmuri". If someone asks you: 'What should a song for Hit meseca be like', the answer is: 'Fast and with a hit potential'. That's why the guys from PGP-RTB [record label] went mad: 'Are you crazy, why didn't you send one of the fast ones?' But it happened that the guys from Hit meseca liked it. They gave us a great budget and two days to record a video, which was amazing. The videos were usually recorded for three hours... And we made the dummest possible video. Me, with a dog, on the snow... And then we're hugging in some apartment. Totally crazy. All together, it was a piece of shit. That's what the director of the video, Milutin Petrović said later, so I can say it now. It was that bad that they played it on one show, on the second, and for the third one they called us to perform live, they didn't want to play the video, it was that awful. Before that, someone from Bijelo Dugme, I can't remember if it was Ipe Ivandić or Zoran Redžić, said to us: 'It isn't easy to go with the ballad first'. And we reached top of the Hit meseca's chart."

Personnel

Additional personnel

Reception and legacy

Soon after the album release, the songs "220", "Vidi šta mi je uradio od pesme, mama", "Ti se ljubiš (Na tako dobar način)", "Šarene pilule za Li-Lu-Le", and the ballads "Dobro jutro, džezeri", "Sa druge strane jastuka" and "Zažmuri" became huge hits.

The album was polled in 1998 as the 13th 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).

In 2000, the song "Zažmuri" was polled No.70 on the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list. In 2006, the same song was polled No.40 on the B92 Top 100 Domestic Songs List. In 2011, the song "Ti se ljubiš (Na tako dobar način)" was voted, by the listeners of Radio 202, one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS.

Covers