I will go to the woods to look for her again
With the silence of the river, to dream peacefully
So it begins. song Zdravko Colic "I called her Emily." Someone would say – melancholic.
And while the moon shines, I will look at the stars
Would I not meet her happy and distant
But who on earth is looking for a woman in the middle of the forest at night? And, attention - her name is not Emily, but the singer just says that he called her that.
When I listened to the anthropologist Danilo Trbojević in a podcast a few years ago, it dawned on me - wasn't the singer looking for autumn in the woods, a mythical being that every normal person runs away from?
What is autumn?
Trbojević, one of the best connoisseurs of folklore and folk beliefs in our country, talked about the liminal space around the village - crossroads, the edge of the forest, bridges.
A space that has an important place in belief because it should be avoided, especially at night when the fair world sleeps. And night, that is as soon as it gets dark.
Osenja, which is called this in the east of Serbia, and in the south is also called omaja, appears in the form of an animal, but also a ghostly bride, a girl with flowing hair who has goat legs.
In my dream, she entered her home
Day turned into night because of her
This is how obsessions or enchantments work. A man wakes up tired who knows where. Maybe he doesn't even know if he was dreaming.
Because of her, because of her, I lost everything
Even good friends
In the belief, autumn bewitches a man only when he speaks (for example, he calls her Emily). Then he falls under her power and loses his will.
Autumn has a lesson - don't do anything at night, but sleep well, and work during the day and everything will be fine.
But that doesn't take us any further in our little research venture into the song "I Called Her Emily." What would be piquant about her would be that the narrator is so infatuated that he is looking for autumn, that he has completely given up on his life.
Attempt to inquire
The song, like many Čolić songs, was written by Kornelije Kovač. With her, Čolić won the contest "Your hit of the season" in 1975, in hellish competition.
Čolić once said that he himself suggested that the song should start like a Bosnian sevdalinka, with a quest to find the woman of his dreams.
The famous composer Kovač is no longer among the living. That's why I once asked his daughter Kristina Kovač.
She thinks the song is not about anyone in particular, or at least Cornelius never talked about it. When asked if she might have been inspired by folk beliefs in autumn, she answered:
"Something like that is not out of the question. Koki liked to draw inspiration from various literature."
Let's move on. I write to Zdravko Čolić's manager, who writes back at one point: "I have first-hand information, I asked Čola. According to his memory, Kornelija Kovač certainly did not write the text inspired by eastern Serbia. The concept of autumn was never mentioned."
More, he writes, was related to Kovač's period of life in Sarajevo and the time when he performed in Indexes.
Well, maybe it's not what I thought. But people believe what they want, so I will believe what I want. Maybe there is autumn around Sarajevo as well.
