“March on the Drina”
The March on the Drina (Serbian
Cyrillic: Марш на Дрину, Serbian Latin: Marš Na Drinu) is a Serbian patriotic
march which was composed by Stanislav Binički during World War I.
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Binički
dedicated it to his favourite commander in the Serbian Army, who had been
killed during the Battle of Cer. The song experienced widespread popularity
during and after the war and came to be seen by Serbs as a symbol of resistance
to the Great Powers. Following World War II, it was prohibited in Communist
Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, it was played at the presentation ceremony for the
Nobel Prize in Literature when Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić was named a Nobel
laureate in 1961.
Binički
dedicated it to his favourite commander in the Serbian Army, who had been
killed during the Battle of Cer. The song experienced widespread popularity
during and after the war and came to be seen by Serbs as a symbol of resistance
to the Great Powers. Following World War II, it was prohibited in Communist
Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, it was played at the presentation ceremony for the
Nobel Prize in Literature when Yugoslav writer Ivo Andrić was named a Nobel
laureate in 1961.
The lyrics to the song were
written many decades after Binički composed it, by poet and journalist Miloje
Popović, in 1964 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Cer.
English lyrics were added in 1964 by American songwriter Vaughn Horton for a
recording by Patti Page under the title Drina (Little Soldier Boy). German
lyrics were added by Walter Rothenburg in 1974 and Bert Olden in 1976. Milutin
Popović Zahar added Serbian lyrics to a version entitled "Svirajte Mi Mars
na Drinu" in 1989. An eponymous 1964 Yugoslav film was made by the Avala
Film studio in Belgrade that featured the march in a historical dramatization
of the 1914 Battle of Cer.
The composition became an
international hit and a staple of world music after Danish guitarist Jørgen
Ingmann had a number one hit on the Danish pop singles chart in 1963 in a
version arranged for solo electric guitar on the Swedish Metronome Records
label. His recording was also released in West Germany, where it reached #5, in
the UK, in France, and in the U.S. on ATCO Records, 6277. Patti Page, The
Shadows, Chet Atkins, Frankie Yankovic, Horst Wende, and James Last also
recorded the song.
Popular international versions:
* Jørgen Ingmann - "Marchen
Til Drina" as a Metronome 45 single, B 1575, Denmark, 1963. Charts: #1,
Denmark; #5, Germany 
* The Shadows - "March to
Drina" on the EMI Records album Shadow Music (1966)
* Patti Page - "Drina (Little Soldier
Boy)" released as a Columbia 45 A side single, 43078, US; EP in Portugal,
CBS 6195, 1964. English lyrics were written by American songwriter Vaughn
Horton.
* Chet Atkins - "Drina" on the RCA
Victor album From Nashville With Love, 1966
* James Last - on the Polydor LP Trumpet A
Go Go, Vol. 3, Germany, 1968; James Last recorded the song in 1988 with Dutch
flutist Berdien Stenberg, Flute Fiesta LP, Polydor 837 116-1
* The Nashville String Band
featuring Chet Atkins and Homer and Jethro - "Drina" on the eponymous
RCA Victor album, 1969
* Frankie Yankovic - "Drina (Little
Soldier Boy)" on the CBS LP Saturday Night Polka Party, 1967
* Radomir Mihailović Točak -
"Marš..." on the EP "Marš..." / "...na Drinu"
(PGP RTB 1984), Yugoslavia
* Laibach - "Mars on River Drina"
on the album NATO (1994), Slovenia, released on the Mute label, based in London
* The Jokers - "Drina" as a
Discostar and Brunswick 45 single, Belgium, 1963
* The Spotnicks -
"Drina" as a 45 single on Swedisc and W & G, Sweden; on CNR in
Holland as "Drina Mars", 1964. Rerecorded in 1977. Charts: #8,
Holland.
* Leon
Young String Chorale- "Drina" as a 45 single, UK, Columbia, 7236,
1964
* Will
Glahé's Bohème Ballhouse Band - "Drina Marsch" on Decca LP, 1964
* Bert Landers & Konrad Grewe
- "Drina Marsch" from the album Schlager-Cocktail: Die 16
Spitzenschlager
* Horst Wende und sein Orchester – "Drina Marsch", Polydor 52
172, 7" 45 single, Germany, 1963; Roberto Delgado, pseudonym of Horst
Wende, released as 45 single with picture sleeve in Italy as by Roberto Delgado
e la sua orchestra, "March to Drina", Polydor 52172
* Die Kirmesmusikanten /or De Kermisklanten/ -
"Drina Marsch", 7" 45 single, RCA, Germany, 1975.
* Gunter Noris und die Big Band
der Bundeswehr - WM-Parade, CBS 80218, Germany, 1974
* Arne Domnerus Sekstett - on the
LP Ja, Vi Älskar, Zarepta ZA 36010, Norway, 1978
* South African organist Cherry
Wainer - on the LP Musik Im Blut, Discoton 75289, Germany; Hammond Organ: Light
and Lively, double LP album, Polydor, 583 570, UK, 1964; Rhythmus im Blut LP,
Polydor, 237 359, Germany, 1967; Cherry Wainer and Her Magic Hammond Organ LP,
on Polydor, 236 036, 1967; Hammond Non Stop LP, Polydor Special 2418-188, 1969
*
Ljubivoje Vidosavljević, Narodni Orkestar Carevac – "Marš Na
Drinu", with lyrics by Miloje Popovic, PGP RTB, EP 12298, Yugoslavia, 1966
* Kurt Henkels und sein Tanzorchester, 1973
* Bauernkapelle Mindersdorf - on
the album In der Musikscheune, Tyrolis, Germany, 2008
* Countdown Studio Band in 2006
as "Drina March"
*
Moravian Wind Band on the CD collection Leuchtturm, 2003
* Captain Harp - on the LP
Harmonica Highlights as "Drina-Marsch" as part of "Balkan
Medley" by the Picca-Trio in an arrangement for harmonica, ZYX Music, 2010
* Henry Arland and Hans Bertram -
"Drina Marsch (Mars na Drini)", or "Drina (In den Bergen singt
der Wind)", on the LP Clarinet Fascination, Polydor, 2371 208, 1972
* Bob Kaper's The Beale Street Jazz Band -
"Drina-March" b/w "Dominique", 45 picture sleeve single,
RCA 47-9509, Dutch Amsterdam pressing.
* Ansambl "Uroševic" featuring
violinist Vlastimir Pavlović Carevac, on Metronome in Sweden, on Jugoton in
Yugoslavia, 1963
* Gordana Lazarević -
"Svirajte Mi Marš na Drinu" ("Play Me 'The March on the Drina'"),
lyrics by Milutin Popović Zahar, PGP RTB, 1989
*
Herbert Wetzler und seine Musikanten
*
Franca Siciliano as "Drina" on Silver Record, XP 616, backed
with "Ma cos'hai?" in Italy in 1966
*
South African version of "March on the Drina" as "Drina
March" by Dan Hill and Sounds Electronic, '8' LP, 42 Great Hits Perfect
For Dancing, on RPM Records, 1037 S, 1969
* Fischer Choir, Fischer-Chöre,
as "Drina-Marsch" on the Polydor album Das Große Spiel, The Great
Game, Polydor 2371 500, Germany, 1974. The orchestra was under the direction of
Hans Bertram. This vocal version features German lyrics written by Walter
Rothenburg
* Czech vocalist Karel Gott on
the album Singet und freut euch des Lebens, as "Drina-Marsch" with
lyrics by Bert Olden, Polydor, 2371695, 1976
* The Dutch band Boemerang
recorded the song as "Drina Mars" on the various artists album 84
Heerlijke Hollandse Hittroeven released in 2001
* German trumpeter Walter Scholz
on the 2012 collection Rosen nur für dich as "Drina"
* Viva Vox Choir at the United
Nations in a vocalized version in 2013 introduced by the Secretary-General of
the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon.
♥♥The March on the Drina: Drina (Little Soldier Boy) by Patti Page♥♥
*** The 1964 American adaptation of Stanislav Binicki’s “The March on the Drina” recorded as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” by Patti Page with English lyrics by Vaughn Horton was a bold and original transformation of a musical work written during World War I into a pop song. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The song showed the impact and influence of the “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. and on American popular culture and music. “The March on the Drina” had an impact, not only globally, but also in the U.S.
“The March on the Drina” became an international standard and staple of world music in the 1960s. The song had been composed by Stanislav Binicki to commemorate the first Allied victory of World War I, the Battle of Cer, where Serbian troops had defeated Austro-Hungarian troops invading from Bosnia over the Drina River. The song first became a sensation in Scandinavia in 1963. The popularity of the song subsequently spread all across Europe. Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann had a no. 1 pop hit with the song in Denmark, a no. 5 hit in West Germany, and releases of the single in the UK, France, and the United States. By 1964 the popularity of the song had spread to the United States.
♥The first major recording of “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. was by iconic singer Patti Page, “the Singin’ Rage”, the best-selling American female singer of the 1950s in the U.S. She released the song as a single on Columbia Records in 1964. The release was a major production that transformed the military march into a pop song that was targeted for U.S. Top 40 radio. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The record did not chart but was a remarkable achievement in musical composition and arrangement, showing what could be done in adapting music from another genre and country.
♥Her recording of “The March on the Drina” as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” was the first pop version of the song in the U.S. There would be other notable later recordings of “The March on the Drina” in the United States, by Chet Atkins in 1966, by Frankie Yankovic in 1967, and by the Nashville String Band, featuring Chet Atkins and Homer and Jethro, in 1969.
♥The song is about a toy soldier which is owned by a drummer boy. The Drina in the song is not the Drina River that divides Serbia and Bosnia but a toy wooden soldier. The theme of the song is about how the drummer boy will grow up and get married and leave the toy behind. The motif of the song is one of coming of age. The literary technique that Vaughn Horton uses for the lyrics is personification, attributing human characteristics and emotions to inanimate objects. It is similar to the song “Kaw-Liga” by Hank Williams with the wooden Indian in the song imputed with human feelings and emotions. The song contrasts the military theme with the exuberance and joyousness of life itself.
/Carl Savich/
*** The 1964 American adaptation of Stanislav Binicki’s “The March on the Drina” recorded as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” by Patti Page with English lyrics by Vaughn Horton was a bold and original transformation of a musical work written during World War I into a pop song. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The song showed the impact and influence of the “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. and on American popular culture and music. “The March on the Drina” had an impact, not only globally, but also in the U.S.
“The March on the Drina” became an international standard and staple of world music in the 1960s. The song had been composed by Stanislav Binicki to commemorate the first Allied victory of World War I, the Battle of Cer, where Serbian troops had defeated Austro-Hungarian troops invading from Bosnia over the Drina River. The song first became a sensation in Scandinavia in 1963. The popularity of the song subsequently spread all across Europe. Danish guitarist Jorgen Ingmann had a no. 1 pop hit with the song in Denmark, a no. 5 hit in West Germany, and releases of the single in the UK, France, and the United States. By 1964 the popularity of the song had spread to the United States.
♥The first major recording of “The March on the Drina” in the U.S. was by iconic singer Patti Page, “the Singin’ Rage”, the best-selling American female singer of the 1950s in the U.S. She released the song as a single on Columbia Records in 1964. The release was a major production that transformed the military march into a pop song that was targeted for U.S. Top 40 radio. The release was a bold attempt to insert the song into the American popular musical mainstream. The adaptation of a martial theme to Top 40 radio was daring, innovative, and original. The record did not chart but was a remarkable achievement in musical composition and arrangement, showing what could be done in adapting music from another genre and country.
♥Her recording of “The March on the Drina” as “Drina (Little Soldier Boy)” was the first pop version of the song in the U.S. There would be other notable later recordings of “The March on the Drina” in the United States, by Chet Atkins in 1966, by Frankie Yankovic in 1967, and by the Nashville String Band, featuring Chet Atkins and Homer and Jethro, in 1969.
♥The song is about a toy soldier which is owned by a drummer boy. The Drina in the song is not the Drina River that divides Serbia and Bosnia but a toy wooden soldier. The theme of the song is about how the drummer boy will grow up and get married and leave the toy behind. The motif of the song is one of coming of age. The literary technique that Vaughn Horton uses for the lyrics is personification, attributing human characteristics and emotions to inanimate objects. It is similar to the song “Kaw-Liga” by Hank Williams with the wooden Indian in the song imputed with human feelings and emotions. The song contrasts the military theme with the exuberance and joyousness of life itself.
/Carl Savich/
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SONG LIST:
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                  VERSIONS, part TWO, HERE >>>
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