A lot of Eurovision fans are already dreaming of a fairytale ending for Croatia at Eurovision 2024. And the prince in that story is Baby Lasagna — real name Marko Purišić. When his song “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” dropped in January, he became the talk of Zagreb. And now he’s the talk of Europe as radio stations across the continent play his song and as DJs wonder aloud about the lyrics, which include a plea for a cat to meow back and a very memorable hook: rim tim tagi dim.
But the song isn’t just about humour and fun. It convey the stress and anxiety that come with leaving home in search of better opportunities.
Scroll down to read the Rim Tim Tagi Dim lyrics.
Croatia at Eurovision 2024: Baby Lasagna with “Rim Tim Tagi Dim”
Baby Lasagna’s journey to Eurovision hasn’t been straightforward. In fact, he fell at the first hurdle.
At the end of 2023, after the submissions window closed for Croatia’s national selection show DORA, broadcaster HRT selected 24 acts. Mr. Lasagna was not among them. Instead he was relegated to the reserve list. However, in early January, the singer Zsa Zsa withdrew. Suddenly the lasagna was in the oven.
Within hours of the song reveal, “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” was trending within the Top 50 on Croatian YouTube. We spoke with Baby Lasagna the next morning and he was absolutely floored by the response.
“Like three or four days ago I was just a guy from a small town writing stuff in my room. And now all of a sudden a guy from London is talking about me and Croatian media is calling me. I get some crazy offers. And it seems like a dream, but at the same time it can feel uncomfortable when people are expecting a lot of you. They want to get on that train Baby Lasagna. I’m starting to work up an anxiety, which I already had and which is getting even worse. At the same time I am happy people are enjoying my work.”
What do the “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” lyrics mean?
First things first: the title “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” does not have a Croatian translation.
“It means nothing actually,” Baby L told us. “The first sample that you hear in the song goes like rim tim tagi dim, rim tim tagi dim. I was like, ‘It would be funny if I put some real vocals with rim tim tagi dim. There is no great origin story. It’s just a guy in his room and the riff sounds like rim tim tagi dim.”
The real meaning comes not in the title, but in the verses that capture a national dilemma. The European Union has described Croatia as a country of emigration: more people are leaving the country than are arriving from outside its borders. “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” explores this mass exodus of young people — and the effects it has on those leaving and those they leave behind.
The song opens with a young person announcing that he’s leaving home. The music video makes it clear he’s leaving a rural community, which may mirror the outskirts of Umag, Baby Lasagna’s real-life hometown.
Despite the big dreams, that journey is fraught with panic, pain, and anxiety.
And we can see all of that and more in the official video, which dropped on Tuesday. We see a young man preparing to leave his rustic existence behind. In between rocking out in the barn amid bales of hay, he pets his cows, feeds his chickens and chops wood. He’s excited to move on, but at times you get the sense he’s also a little sad.
“Hey, I’m a big boy now, I’m ready to leave, ciao, mama, ciao…I’m a big boy now, I’m going away and I sold my cow…”
As the video progresses we see Baby Lasagna bidding farewell to his fellow villagers at an outdoor feast, which turns into a dancing affair. As he dreams of life in a more happening place, he also wonders if his language and traditions will be understood. As he sings, “I hope I find peace in the noise, wanna become one of those city boys, they’re all so pretty and so advanced, maybe they also know our dance.”
Does the act of leaving bring him the joy he dreams of? Well the video doesn’t answer that. It’s up to you to decipher the final scene, which is beautiful if bittersweet.
And what does Baby Lasagna say about all this?
“I think that a lot of my songwriting comes from my subconscious — you know things that I’m not thinking really about. We have a lot of problems with young people moving and there’s been a lot of news going on about that, so I think that constantly listening to those words…maybe the song is about that, about young people living our country in the search of a better place. A heavy heart and as it says in the song, ‘in my anxiety attacks, I’m gonna miss you all, but mostly the cat.'”
“Rim Tim Tagi Dim” lyrics — Baby Lasagna (Croatia Eurovision 2024)
Songwriter (music and lyrics): Marko Purišić
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
Verse 1
Ayy, I’m a big boy now
I’m ready to leave, ciao, mamma, ciao
Ayy, I’m a big boy now
I’m going away and I sold my cow
Before I leave, I must confess
I need a round of decompress
One more time for all the good times
Rim-tim-tagi-digi-dim-tim-tim
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Rim-tim-tagi-digi)
(Digi-digi-digi-digi)
I love him and the song, the only song i have on repeat. hope he wins <3
Up to now this is the only song I like.
Edit:
unfortunately live it’s bad.
So I guess we’ve decided that we are OK with the homophobic lyrics. Just note the derision in the singer’s voice when he mentions those “city boys”
I hope I find peace in the noise
Wanna become one of those city boys
They’re all so pretty and so advanced
Maybe they also know our dance
?
He was referring more to himself being the village boy that spends time with his farm animals in the mudd, leaving for the big city where “city boys” are well groomed! He is raised well and by no means a homophobe!
Bad troll. Bad.
Take off your tinfoil hat
I don’t know how I feel about this song. I like it but I don’t. Very 50/50 on it.
Love it
Croatia is topping almost all of the betting odds now. I have never seen that happen to Croatia before, ever. They must be thrilled!!
We are:)
The live performance now has ONE MILLION views! Amazing for Croatia and in only three days!
Meeow or not meeow, I don’t like the song at all.
This song really doesn’t catch me at all.
I foresee in the near future some delegation bringing a song with burps and farts. Maybe next singer may be the Youtube star Yanagi19871 or Sons of Arkham or That Brown Nerd.
The song is catchy, but live it sounds so amateurish. The guy is very weak vocally.
From when the eurofans are interested in quality? Most of the eurofans didn’t even know what a good singer must have in order to win a competition. They lack of any judgement quality.
I agree. When I saw the video I said: no. 1.
But after seeing the live performance I am not sure.
William rarely gets it wrong. Zagreb 2025 is more likely than not.
I could tell on Williams face the joy when he heard it and reviewed it and when he interviewed him. You could tell he liked marko as a person
Where did William say that?
Even if it’d place 2nd behind Ukraine, Zagreb has the chance to host, given that Ukraine is unable to!
True!
I dont want my country to host if we dont win.
I HOPE so.
What did he say about Kaarija and Loreen again? Which of the two did he say would win?
Off-topic: seems like Israel’s 2nd song was also ruled out. The lyrics (if those are the correct ones) are even worse than the first song in terms of quality but also even less offensive. They’re basically blabla. Things are getting ridiculous. Spelling mistakes aren’t mine: My mind hiding I don’t know what’s right Take me to the right road There’s no more time and I can’t go wrong Breath in I know that i’m strong I brake all the chains I’m on the edge now Watch me fly away Oh dance like an angel Oh you will remember That I… Read more »
If things are going in this direction, it looks like EBU wants to avoid any risks. I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up with only 35 participants this year.
But then the EBU should just say so and not blame the lyrics which is obviously a lie. What can they possibly object to here? They already approved Luxembourg singing „I’m a fighter“ so it can’t be that. You mean 36, or do you see another one leaving? Without Israel, we’d be at 36.
Iceland.
I can’t see any reason whatsoever to ban those lyrics. Would 2002 Light A Candle be censored too? Ridiculous, if true.
So Kan was ready to publish the second song? I thought they believed in October Rain so badly to not even consider a discussion of changes to the lyrics or the song itself. Oh well, good riddance.
Bye bye Israhell, welcome Palestine through Iceland! Reykjavik 2025!!!
Great energy but we know the juries will kill its chances off.
Do we?
Who knows? They might love the lyrics of the song. Also, this isn’t the final performance.
The moment you see the man with the suitcase lifting it up and down, the lyrics ‘there’s no going back, my anxiety attacks’ and then the ethnic backing dancers dancing their jig, you instantly recognise that the serious topic that’s being discussed.
I find these lyrics are incredibly thematically similar to Bashar’s effort in Iceland. It feels to me that Baby is the younger self and Bashar’s is the older-wiser version – but remarkably similar nonetheless.
I see what you mean, they are both leaving their home communities… but for very different reasons. One for economics, the other because of homophobic oppression.
The second one’s debatable. There are lots of things including the regimes in power that relate to those who have left the Middle East. War is one of them…
Yeah, but this song is about Bashar’s personal reason, about him and only him.
Maybe a song revamp is in the works now that it won? Clearly it was enough to build a huge momentum but I think this could be taken much further.
The song has that rare quality that you can’t get it out of your head, which is not easy to get, and I think it may be lost if a more sophisticated musical arrangement is made. An interesting dilemma for them, I’m sure.
I believe the message instantly comes clear when you both hear it the first time and also look the country which it comes from. The lyrics are excellent, witty and fun, while also being extremely catchy. Grest song and effort by Marko in general.
The unnecessarily most overhyped song of this year
We can finally put an end to the rumours, Käärija declared:
“Same vibe but Its not the same! I love this crazy croatin song
Käärijä showing the way to the 2024 televoting winner 😉
Maybe it will be something much more than just a televote winner this year…?
Shouldn’t even have started, those comparisons are beyond pathetic
That green man I will forever love until I die
Really hope he wins, although Ukraine will be a tough one to beat – I’m expecting killer staging from them
People who call these lyrics “trash”, you might as well do some research on population decline in Eastern European countries
They pretty clever actually.
For some yes it might be, depends whether they like the working environment in their country or not, how much they earn etc etc.
I meant the lyrics
Based
I think Baby will place very high in May. Just watching him on stage makes me feel happy, he is so adorable. Meow
Right, he won by a landslide, I wonder if he will have a similar effect in Malmo.
The juries might appreciate the socio-political commentary of the lyrics
They won’t. Sweden douze points as usual yawn
The juries will kill its chances sadly
Wow… the lyrics are nice done. I think this is something a lot of people can relate to as not only people from Croatia are leaving the country. To a certain point almost everyone had that point in late adolescence to say “Goodbye”, being aware that alongside with excitment for the new things to come and to finally be free, sometimes anxiety and missing the old comfortable bed can mix up to a weird emotional cocktail. The biggest error that I see with this song is that Finnlands Käärija is musically, thematically and stylistically a direct comperison – yet it… Read more »
It feels like just with Eleni where every female dance number got compared to her the years after she competed as if she invented female dance numbers. The OG anyway was Sertab Erener, the next two winners were all female bops. So it is just like with this, there is a genre that got popular in ESC and now all songs in this genre or vibe get compared to it.
The lyrics are definitely the best this year. Hopefully the juries will appreciate that and decide to upvote it a little at least. The lyrics have two or three meanings, not just about Croatians leaving, but about mental health and the actual politics of the country, i’m finding.
But one things for sure: After Baby Lasagna’s Eurovision performance, thousands of Croatians and non-Croatians are gonna flock back!
Tbf, Spain’s lyrics are better to me. But I’m a woman so that’s why I can relate to it.
Great article! Also, I think it’s pretty interesting that we’re able to see his journey unfold. From a backup to a potentional winner. Eurovison cinderella
Some people have said the instrumentals are ethno elements but I just can’t here it? And I come from the region? Can someone explain me what these ethno/folk elements in the song are?
The percussion beat sounds pure Balkan to me (where exactly are you from?). Reportedly he has incorporated an Istrian rhythm to the melody, but I have heard similar rhythms in North Greece where I come from.
my parents are croats from central bosnia. i don’t know, i still can’t here it, but istrian music is a little different than other sounds from the balkans, kind of reminds me more of Slovenia/Austria
I have Aromanian roots (which is not uncommon in North Greece) and I think Istrians and Aromanians have similar folk music, so I guess it makes sense. You’re right, Balkan folk can mean more than one thing. I guess your mention to Slovenia/Austria refers to the local brass bands that play similar folk music? That’s what I’m getting. In any case, I believe that the rhythm is very relatable for many people and that will definitely help to get a good result.
yes, it’s nice how diverse we are but still similar. i think that many of us from the region can relate to this song and staging! looking forward to may 🙂 also excited what greece will bring
That would make sense then, since it’s closer towards Italy and that coastline and there’s even the lyrics ‘Ciao, Mama, Ciao!’
Ana you can google “istarski tanac” and instrument they use, it is called “sopile”. Pure Istria, beat and dance
I would imagine the rhythms and music from the Mediterranean and East Balkans areas very much clash and fuse as they get to the borders with Greece and North Macedonia
They definitely do. North Greece has a very interesting mixture of folk traditions combining elements from the Mediterranean, to Balkans and even to Black Sea. 🙂
The whole basis of the song (ie the rythm) is based on local folklore (circle dance) from Istria.
It’s already gone viral. The view numbers for a small country at this stage are rivalling the heavily populated countries with 20 times more people in.
He’s got momentum only politics can stop him now
I feel sad for him because of his anxiety. Hope he’ll get better.
Why was this downvoted?
Because I clowned the people that liked BL song before he won. That still doesn’t mean I can’t feel for him.
I also see that he’s about to challenge Ukraine on winning this year and I better see Croatia take the crown than Ukraine. So, I’m on the Lasagna’s team now lol
I think this song is excellent. It has an international reach, but it very well explains the point that Croatia is suffering a major population loss from young people leaving. It’s both relevant to the country it represents, and digestible by anyone else abroad. Genius!
There have recently been some rumours that he has straight up copied a sample for his song from another artist’s music video which is called “Espectro”, by Adrian de la Vega, and has been on the internet for about three years. I went to give it a listen (it starts around the 3rd minute) and both parts from these songs sound almost identical, although not entirely the same. I seriously hope Marko hasn’t actually copied another person’s sample and it’s just pure coincidence because the article I’ve read these rymours from (the Greek eurovisionfun) has me doubting his participation now… Read more »
Adrian de la Vega already claimed he wants to file law actions, made it clear that he didn’t sell the track to Baby Lasagna. Will surely be interesting to see how this evolves and if he’ll change the song. I heard the track and I have to say, its not just similar, it’s almost identical!
Oh, this is such a bummer…
Meh. Attention seeker. Happens every year. The copyright threshold is much higher than a simple chord progression like this one.
It happened with Ed Sheeran and Matt Cardle and they proved even the main melody isn’t enough to be plagarism.
Looks like Adrian de la Vega wants to get some attention. He bought this sample (and so did Baby Lasagna) form Splice platform, but he did not read Splice terms and conditions: Q: Are all sounds on Splice Sounds non-exclusive? A: Yes. You have a non-exclusive license to each sound that you download from Splice Sounds, meaning other users can also use the same sounds as you without infringing on any New Recording or Creative Works you create using that sound and vice versa. In fact, he was not first one to use this sample – you can hear it… Read more »
Greek Eurovision sites being b*tchy as usual (I’m Greek as well btw). It’s just a simple and rather common chord progression. Way beyond the copyright threshold. Nothing to see there.
I also believe that our sites are extremely whiny and simply try to undermine the competition because our entries are never up to the level of the rest of the countries in the recent decade. Maybe Maria Satti isn’t such a big favorite anymore, lol. We should learn to be much more mature than that. I highly hope Baby Lasagna wins his case.
*Marina
Efthymie there’s not even a case there. Some random DJ has produced a random track that hasn’t even been released that has the same chord progression. Big deal. EBU won’t even care about this and the Greek sites are giving attention to this random case exactly because “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” plays in the same field with Marina’s song. I’ve been following ESC for decades and this happens every single year. No songs have ever been disqualified because the threshold for copyrights is very high. Even if this random DJ files a lawsuit he can never copyright a chord progression… Read more »
And that’s that on that. It’s like saying Beyoncé’s Halo copied Leona Lewis’ Bleeding Love or Katy Perry’s Hot n Cold copies Paris Hilton’s Nothing in This World, same exact progression, it happens all the time with mainstream music and it’s not plagiarism. If Adrian de la Verga wants to waste coins on a lawsuit, it’s his choice.
And who is Adrian de la Vega anyway? Just a rhetorical question, but looking at his number of subscribers and views, I can’t help but wonder.
Do you think the Jack White/Toy ruling was fair?
By law, shouldn’t that have been retrospectively disqualified making Cyprus the winner?
Even if there is legal action on this case, will it matter?
Tbh I never noticed the resemblance between “Toy” and “Seven Nation Army” only until the issue was brought up by UMG. Even if this was indeed a case of genuine plagiarism, I don’t know if it was done intentionally and I don’t think that this gave any advantage to Netta in 2018. I don’t like results to be changed retrospectively unless it’s proven that someone has cheated (see Croatia 1999 for example), so although I was (and still am) a big fan of Eleni and I think she should have won, I won’t behave as a bitter loser in this… Read more »
It’s called sampling, stop spreading misinformation. It’s pretty common in music making, they both bought the sample and it’s absolutely legitimate.
I didn’try to misinform, I just expressed concern because I love Rim Tim Tagi Dim. Sorry if it came out like that, I apologise.
Looks like Adrian de la Vega wants to get some attention. He bought this sample (and so did Baby Lasagna) form Splice sample platform, but he did not read Splice terms and conditions: Q: Are all sounds on Splice Sounds non-exclusive? A: Yes. You have a non-exclusive license to each sound that you download from Splice Sounds, meaning other users can also use the same sounds as you without infringing on any New Recording or Creative Works you create using that sound and vice versa. In fact, he was not first one to use this sample – you can hear… Read more »
Yesterday in the UK the track was listed in the Top 200 songs on I-Tunes. Unusual for a song from Croatia so far in advance of the contest. Positive sign going forward i think.
That doesn’t always mean success. The song from Spain was the 2nd most viral worldwide on Spotify and I think it’s not that well.
The Spanish language market is huge if you haven’t noticed before. Spain is one of the favourites to win the 12 points from Rest of the World televoting but that doesn’t mean much indeed.
Not as big as the English language I think. Rarely is a song from Spain placed in those positions, another hand are songs from Latin America.
Looking at the UK population’s taste last year, I’m certain it will overtake Kaarija’s record this year for chart position.
Thankfully he will likely prevent windows95man getting 12 points from UK televoting.
We’ll give Windows our 10 points instead!
Please don’t.
I’m hopeful that Lithuanians and Irish living in the UK will prevent that too, but I’ve accepted the fact that Finland will get some televoting points from North Europe. I also expect that “No Rules” will likely be the first song in years that will receive null points from all juries. Hopefully this will prevent a Top 10 placing.