I was incredibly moved, yesterday, when Aat started singing “Manuela” to me, as he read out one of his comments on the marketingfacts blog. Anyway, this triggered a session of a few hours on youtube, assembling what I feel to be the quintessential “dutch songbook”. Or, in other words, the songs you love to hate, but still can’t forget, the songs that everyone knows how to sing.
Of course, “Manuela” itself is the prime example of a Dutch tearjerker song, and that’s even in the Dutch translation. In the German original, it’s Manuela who causes the accident, because she’s driving (the song’s protagonist hands her the key to his car). I don’t know why this song is such a perennial favorite: Jacques Herb’s singing style is a big contributor to “Manuela’s” success, and all in all it’s a song that’s been composed remarkably well.
My macbook spent all of last week in the macbook hospital, at Machouse, in Woerden. Everytime I rang to get news of its ailments and pending surgery, Bonny St Clair’s “Dr. Bernhard” came to mind. Of course, Ron Brandsteder as Dr. Bernhard lends this song incredible depth and finesse, and the ending is tragic (”he” dies, Dr. B. phones her and she gets the news).
And, last on my list is another translation of a German song (Peter Maffay’s “Es War Sommer”). In Dutch, Rob de Nijs sang this, a song about a 16 year old boy and his first sexual experience at the hands of a 28 year old woman. I found a number of versions of this, one a singalong version of the song, here, and a wonderful singalong/lipsync version by Daniel and Yoav.
Post a Comment