Song Written for Mišo Kovač Earned Marijan Ban a Zagreb Festival Prize

Robert Pauletić has shared a touching story about a song he wrote for the late Mišo Kovač, which ultimately brought an award to another Croatian music legend, Marijan Ban. In a Facebook post honouring Kovač, who passed away last Saturday, Pauletić revealed that he and composer Tomo Mrduljaš were commissioned by Kovač around 2014 to write a song.

The result was the ballad “Ne voliš me više” (“You Don’t Love Me Anymore”), with lyrics by Pauletić and music by Mrduljaš. However, Kovač unexpectedly decided not to record new songs at that time, and the collaboration fell through. The song did not stay in a drawer for long: Mrduljaš and Pauletić offered it to Marijan Ban, who performed it at the 63rd Zagreb Festival in 2016, where it won the expert jury prize.

Pauletić also recalled how he first met Kovač in 2008, when the singer personally called him and invited him to his concert in Zadar, asking him to write a review for Slobodna Dalmacija. He remembered Kovač’s humorous comparison: “Rolling Stones sold fewer records in England than I did in the former Yugoslavia!” At that concert, Pauletić sat next to Kovač’s daughter Ivana, and years later he wrote the lyrics for her song “Dalmacijo, srce oca moga” (“Dalmatia, Heart of My Father”), set to music by Pero Kozomara.

Their last meeting took place at the Split Festival in July 2019, during an evening dedicated to Kovač’s songs. After Kovač addressed the audience, he asked Pauletić for his opinion. “When God speaks to people, mortals are not here to judge how he spoke!” Pauletić replied. He ended his tribute by saying that such a music legend will never be born again.