Feliz Navidad, that sounds almost but not quite like M’n Fiets is Gejat (2007, My Bike was Stolen).
My bike was stolen (3x)
That sucks
My bike was stolen (3x)
That sucks
I don’t want to walk home
I have no money to buy a new one
By now my bike is at the bottom of the canal (gracht)
De Sjonnies (The Johnnies, named after Amsterdam singer Johnny Jordaan) were a Nijmegen based band from the 1990s and 2000s who had a smallish hit in 1995 with Dans Je de Hele Nacht met Mij? (Will You Dance All Night With Me?). As I was a student in Nijmegen in those days, I heard that song rather a lot.
Let me conclude by wishing you a mijn fiets is gejat from the bottom of my gracht.
Dutch singers Sjarrel & Sjaan wrote a Christmas song for the Dutch Apple website, One More Thing. Oh, and you can buy it from iTunes if you are so inclined. No worries, the English subtitles are very good. The video mostly deals with Jobs’ and Schiller’s eating habits and respective physique, but also touches on Apple’s success and has a lovely image of the duo dancing around “the apple Christmas tree.”
This protest video/Christmas song by Ampzing “Koude Kalkoen en rode wijn” (“Cold turkey and red wine” – nice pun!), a ‘cover’ of “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas” is by no means brilliant, but the message definitely hits the mark with the Dutch: enough with all those English Christmas songs already! This could explain why many of my friends sneer at me when I say I’m looking forward to Christmas and the Christmas music. The songs at my place are mostly in French, often translations of the English versions as well as traditional French Canadian fiddle music, so no Wham or Mariah Carey. The Dutch radio is basically only cranking out English hits though, as I step into the shops to buy something. It doesn’t work for me at all.
I feel sorry for anyone who really digs the Christmas spirit, but is annoyed by the Americanised, Anglo-Saxon version of it. Remember one thing though: your fellow countrymen are the ones doing this to you and that’s the really scary part.
