Siege of Sarajevo Series Part 2 'Song for Sarajevo' Judy Collins

Hello everyone! This is the second part of my 3 part series about songs based on the Siege of Sarajevo. If you missed the first article, here it is here. I explained the history of the Siege of Sarajevo in the first article.

Today we will be viewing the siege from the view of a child. This song is called 'Song For Sarajevo' by Judy Collins. This song was actually written in 1994, around the time NATO intervened and the world came to know about the Siege of Sarajevo.

 In this song she writes the lyrics from the point of view of a small child who is orphaned by the war. The child is seeing everything she loved destroyed by the war. All this child wants is to have peace in her life because she is surrounded by war. She feels as if her childhood was stolen from her.

Notable lines from the song:

"There's nowhere to hide, no where that I can go"

As I mentioned in my previous article Sarajevo was blockaded and the city became a battle ground. There was no getting out. The whole city was the battle ground, you couldn't hide from it. To a child this would have been very frightening and beyond their concept of safety and danger. 

"I can hear my heart, pounding like a clock

Hiding from the planes and from the bombing"

Here Judy Collins is talking about how the child is scared because there is war all around her. There is constant bombings from Republika Srpska and airplanes overhead from NATO.

"Fire from the sky, burning down my life

There is no more love and no more longing"

This child's whole world is gone because of the war. She feels like there is no more love where she is.

(Chorus)

"But when I close my eyes:

I dream of peace

I dream of flowers on the hill

I dream I see my mother smiling

When I close my eyes I dream of peace"

Here the child talks about how she saw Sarajevo before the war and how she now dreams about seeing all the little beautiful things that she saw before the war.

"Once I had a home, once my life was good

Once my mother sang to me and held me

Then the fire came, falling from the sky

There is no one left who can protect me"

This is the part of the song we find out that the girl was orphaned by the war. Her mother was killed in a bombing. She used to have a home, but now it's all gone. She feels alone and scared.

"War's a wicked bird that never comes to rest

Feeding on the dreams of all the children"

To a child war takes everything from them. Their home, their school, family, friends. Everything in a child's perception of life.

"Can't you stop the war, bring it to a close

You are tall and strong and I am just a child

Can't we live in peace, stop the flowing blood

Make a blessed world where I can be a child"

Here the child begs for peace. Peace would mean that she would get to be a child again. She knows she can't physically stop the war herself because she is a child, so she asks whoever is listening to bring peace.

Here is the song for you to listen to:

Thank you for reading this second article! I hope you come back next week to see the third article. 

-Amy Katrina 

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