A Higher Ugliness

Erwin and I are collecting a bunch of songs for people that are learning Dutch. We are convinced that listening to music is the most fun way to pick up a language and we would like to help our friends that are learning Dutch by offering a guide to Flemish and Dutch songs that are beautiful or in some other way interesting to listen to.

You wouldn't guess it from the looks of it, but Flanders is full of cowboys. Let me introduce you to four types of them:

The Absurd Cowboy

Kamagurka and Herr Seele are the creators of a persona called Cowboy Henk. The often dirty and always absurd comic got distributed weekly to hundreds of thousands households via the popular television magazine called Humo. Just a sample:

Of course this became a classic. When the creators were given a chance to make a program on TV the figure of Cowboy Henk was not left behind. Take a look at this video:

Let's just highlight the text from the third refrain:

Hey lonely cowboy, wat doe je met mijn vrouw boy,
je kust haar op de mond, dat is heel erg ongezond
ze sliep daarnet met Bill en Bob en George en ook met jou boy,
ik heb geen last van jaloezie, maar zoiets verdraagt geen cow...

and then the cowboy gets smacked in the face. Translation:

hey lonely cowboy, what are you doing with my wife boy,
you are kissing her on the mouth, that is very bad on health,
she has just slept with Bill and Bob and George and oh yeah you boy,
I am not a jealous man, but tolerating that is no thing for a cow...

There are a lot of Cowboy Henk cartoons archived here and if you like the music you might want to try to get a hold of other songs of his. This disc in particular has his songs in classical arrangements and is really beautiful. I cannot seem to find good links on the internet for it, so you will have to go hunting in second hand shops to score it.

The Yodeling Cowboy

Bobbejaan Schoepen is a legend. He died two years ago at the age of 85 years and a day. I cannot honestly say that I was an instant fan of his. In the sixties, after several international tours, the guy bought a swamp and turned it into an amusement park with a stage only for himself. My parents took us there, and after a couple of rides on some rollercoasters we were taken to a saloon-like room where he would sing his songs. They seemed stupid and old to us.

A yodeling cowboy! Almost as absurd as that cartoon cowboy, right? Looking back at it, I would love to be back in that room right now and listen more closely to what he was doing, because in the end there was something really really interesting in it. The guy had an amazing talent for business and a very good taste for music. He dug up very beautiful country songs, translated them (or sometimes not) and made them popular here in Flanders.

In the end he was camp, and Daan, a popular Flemish singer, went a long way to popularize his songs and his figure, starting with the making of a soundtrack and the showing of the movie "At the Drop of a Head", and ending with making the popular song "De lichtjes van de schelde" back into a major hit.

This is Daan at the funeral performing the song at the funeral of Bobbejaan Schoepen:

The song is about a sailor coming back, happy to see the lights along the river Schelde (the one that flows in the sea in Antwerp), thinking they resemble the eyes of his lovely wife he is about to meet again. You can read the lyrics here.

The Lonely Cowboy

Lucky Luke was one of the best selling Belgian comics, together with Tintin and Asterix & Obelix, so you may know him. The theme song only exists in English, and I'll link to it here because a list of Flemish cowboys would not be complete without Lucky Luke:

I am not sure if it was an inspiration or not, but the guys from Kommil Foo seem to think cowboys are lonely as well:

And to make it fun, let's translate the juicy parts of the song as well (full lyrics are here):

Indianen in de prairie
vragen zich verwonderd af
wat die cowboy toch zo ritmisch
met zijn hand bewegen mag
en hij droomt dan van zijn meisje
van haar borsten vol en rond
ach de cowboys in de prairie
schieten meestal op de grond

Or in English:

Indians in the prairy
often wonder
why is that cowboy moving his hand
so rythmically
well he is dreaming of his girl
of her breasts so lush and round
oh the cowboys in the prairy
often shoot just in the ground

The Wannabe Cowboy

If you are interested in doing cowboy activities, Belgium may be the right place! Take a look at the site of the Belgian Country And Western Association and subscribe to one of their many activities. Take a look at their photo gallery to get an idea of what to expect.

There is something tragic about people that want to spend their weekends getting dressed up as cowboys. To me they have a connotation of being populated by people with extreme right political sympathies, so I would rather stay away of any likely line dancing events.

There is a theatrical piece, one of the greatest pieces I have ever seen, that made it a point to correct this image of intolerance that gets associated with these country hobbyists. It was called "The Broken Circle Breakdown and the Cover-Ups of Alabama". In the end, so it argued, country music is a melting pot of various cultures and religions, and therefore a symbol of how a clash of cultures leads to something more beautiful than the original. You can read a very good text about it, in Dutch, on rektoverso

This is the trailer of the theatrical piece:

And the good news is you will be able to see it in the movies, because Felix Van Groeningen, the guy that made "De helaasheid der dingen" into a succesful movie, is filming the script. This is a preview (sorry for the commercial in the beginning):

If that isn't something to look forward to, you're not a proper cowboy!

Previously in Nederlands Voor Andersgetaalden:

There is also an up to date Spotify Playlist

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Nederlands Voor Andersgetaalden: Cowboys

The Absurd Cowboy

The Yodeling Cowboy

The Lonely Cowboy

The Wannabe Cowboy

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