According to Rivers, "...the intent of the song was to mock my own country for its bullying ways around the world. The idea was to point out how casually the U.S. plays World Police. The song takes on the persona of the U.S. government, ridiculing the fact that we push others around without much concern."
We'll kick some ass, and then we'll see how it goes, and then we really don't know. Good luck to Kosovo.
Music video
In May, 2005, a group of Norwegian peacekeepers in Kosovo parodied the music video for "Kokomo," using Rivers' song with their own hand-held video camera footage. In the parody, the soldiers imitate dance moves and scenes from the original music video in desolate war-torn areas around Kosovo. It was widely broadcast in the Balkans, prompting the Norwegian ambassador to formally apologize. Nicholas Wood of The New York Times wrote, Rivers stated about the music video, "The song has been stolen...and I wish there were a way to stop it." in 2009, the group Wartist summarized the affair, writing: The last few seconds of the hand-made video show one of the soldiers being hit by a car, but that has been edited out of many of the video postings. Also, when subtitles were put on the song in Serbia, they mistakenly replaced "Milošević" with the name of a 14th-century Serb hero, Miloš Obilić. The soldiers, the "Shiptare Boys," also known as the "Shqiptare Boys," had all left the Norwegian Army by the time the investigation took place, so no further action was taken.
Lyrics
Croatia, Albania, somewhere near Romania It's Euro, and NATO, why the hell do we go? Pristina blew up, huh? Head for Macedonia I'll race ya... Somewhere far overseas There's a place called Kosovo That's where you don't want to go If you're Albanian at all. Protecting human rights, Air strikes and firefights, And we'll be dropping our bombs Wherever Serbian bad guys hide Just up from Kosovo. Somalia, Grenada, Or rescuing Kuwait-a We screwed ya, Rwanda, Wish we coulda helped ya Iraqi embargo - That's where we got hustled Ooo, so now we're helping out in Kosovo We'll kick some ass and then we'll see how it goes And then we really don't know Good luck to Kosovo Mi-lo-še-vić You sorry son of a bitch Every time we go To little places like Kosovo We never really know What happens after we go Tough luck for Kosovo Croatia, Albania, somewhere near Romania It's Euro, and NATO, why the hell do we go? Pristina blew up, huh? Head for Macedonia Oooo from Macedonia down to Kosovo We'll kick their ass and then we'll see how it goes And then we really don't know That sucks for Kosovo! Somalia, Grenada, Or rescuing Kuwait-a We screwed ya, Rwanda, Wish we coulda helped ya Iraqi embargo How it ends we don't know...
