De Stad Amsterdam – Christmas Stream Live

De Stad Amsterdam – Christmas Stream Live

De stad Amsterdam, this is the absolute number 1 of Dieb, his favorite song. In our version it starts slowly and goes faster and faster. The song is about sailors, but it could be musicians…

Anecdote: We have played it once or twice “only live” as de Stad Rotterdam, for fans from Rotterdam. And of course in the north of the Netherlands we spoke about Stad Appingedam in our own “Gronings” “de stad Ap’ge’ Dam ”and we are not talking about onions but“ Siepels ”and hanging kitchens, but normally we play the original version of De Stad Amsterdam.

Hangende keukens van Appingedam
Hangende keukens van Appingedam

Background info

Amsterdam, also known as Dans le port d’Amsterdam is a song by the Belgian singer Jacques Brel, the song takes the form of a crescendo and describes the experiences of sailors during their leave in the red light district in Amsterdam. The melody is taken from the English anthem Greensleeves. Brel never released this song on a studio record. Despite this, Amsterdam became one of Brel’s most popular songs.

De Stad Amsterdam Lyrics

1.

In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeelieden lallen
Tot hun nachtmerries schallen over oud Amsterdam
In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeelieden, dronken
Als een wimpel zo lam, in de dokken gaan ronken
In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeeman verzuipt
Vol van bier en van gram, als de morgen ontluikt
In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeeman ontwaakt
Als de warmte weer blaakt over Damrak en Dam

2.

In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeelieden bikken
Zilv’ren haringen slikken, bij de staart uit de hand
Van de hand in de tand, smijten zij met hun knaken
En ze zullen hem raken als een kat in het want
En ze stinken naar aal, in hun grof blauwe truien
En ze stinken naar uien, daarmee doen zij hun maal
Na hun maal staan zij op om hun broek dicht te knopen
En dan gaan ze weer lopen en het boert in hun krop

3.

In de stad Amsterdam, waar de zeelieden zwieren
En de meiden versieren, buik aan buik, lekker klam
En ze draaien hun wals als een wentelende zon
Op de klank, dun en vals, van een accordeon
En zo rood als een kreeft happen zij naar wat lucht
Tot opeens met een zucht de muziek het begeeft
Met een air van gewicht voeren zij met wat spijt
Dan hun Mokumse meid weer terug in het licht

4.

In de stad Amsterdam waar de zeelieden zuipen
En maar zuipen en maar zuipen en daarop nog eens zuipen
Zuipen op het geluk van een hoer van de Wallen
Op een Hamburgse hoer, nou ja, van een goed stuk
Van een slet die zichzelf in haar deugd heeft geschonken
Voor een gulden of elf en dan zijn ze goed dronken
Met hun wankelende lijven lozen zij dan hun drank
En ze pissen zoals ik jank om de ontrouw der wijven

In de stad Amsterdam
In de stad Amsterdam
In de stad Amsterdam
In de stad Amsterdam

De Stad Amsterdam - Rakkish Paddies
Rakkish Paddies album cover

 

Rakkish Paddies  is available on CD

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We livestream every tuesday at 20:00 CET, check our agenda for other shows and streams

Flatlands with lyrics – Zomerfolk

Flatlands with lyrics – Zomerfolk

The lyrics to this song are written by our own William for the album Scotland’s Story, we performed it for the first time at our Celtic Folk Night in Wilhemshaven. At the end of all our theatre shows we play this song to get the polonaise going, David & Maceal march through the concert hall and all the audience follows.

Background Info – Flatlands

Scotland the Brave is the bagpipe tune David plays during Flatlands, it is a Scottish patriotic song, one of several often considered an unofficial Scottish national anthem. The tune was first played probably in the late 19th century. The lyrics commonly used now were written about 1950 by Scottish journalist Cliff Hanley for singer Robert Wilson as part of an arrangement by Marion McClurg. “Scotland the Brave” is also the authorised pipe band march of the British Columbia Dragoons of the Canadian Armed Forces

Lyrics “Flatlands”

Good evening lads and lassies, are you happy all the way

We’re coming from the Flatlands, so some people say

We try our very best to make you allright tonight

We’re playing lovely folk songs and some tunes half the night

 

I was born to be a singer, but I didn’t knew by then

I had my first guitar when I reached the age of ten

My fingers were not bleeding, but I really tried out hard

So come on move your dancing feet, when the music starts

 

So there’s no other place, where I would rather be

To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony

So won’t you come along and drink a pint or two with me

To sing about this fucking life in peace and harmony

 

I was lots of times in trouble, in my days at school

Just learning ‘n turning by the way and living by the ruule

We were waiting ’till the bell would ring and we’d go home, on straight

And picking up our instruments, “it’s getting really late”

 

I like to dance with women and I sang it all before

I drink a lot of whiskey and I drop dead on the floor

And when the cab is driving home and I remember when

The places where I’m going and the places that I’ve been

 

The night is coming to an end, but there’ll be plenty more to come

The crowd is going wild and they’ve been asking for “encore”

We don’t know where we’re going and whenever we’re coming back

I’ll see you all the next time, on the latest track

Flatlands played at zomerfolk with lyrics and background info
Flatlands played at zomerfolk with lyrics and background info

Scotland’s Story is available on CD and Vinyl

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We livestream every tuesday at 20:00 CET, check our agenda for other shows and streams

Loch Lomond – Zomerfolk

Loch Lomond

The torches come out and you know what time it is, we get to play Loch Lomond! Always a great sing-a-long and we love the reaction from the crowd everytime, this version shows Loch Lomond at our own Rapalje Zomerfolk Festival played on saturday after dark.

Background Info – Loch Lomond

Several stories surround this song, David Myles looked into the history and was able to find the facts to tell our story about the song. “The Bonnie Banks o ‘Loch Lomond”, or “Loch Lomond” for short, is a well-known traditional Scottish song first published in 1841 in Vocal Melodies of Scotland. The track prominently features Loch Lomond, Scotland’s largest lake, located between the counties of West Dunbartonshire, Stirling and Argyll and Bute. In Scottish, “bonnie” means “beautiful”, often in reference to a lady.

Loch Lomond is anything but a sweet Scottish song of love, written by a Jacobite highlander at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion.

The last serious battle of the war between Scotland and England took place on the field of Culloden. Now known as “the Battle of Culloden” The Jacobite Rebellion was an important time in Scotland; this ended at the battle of Culloden in 1746.

History

The Jacobites were created when the Roman Catholic King James II was dethroned from the English throne. By the Protestant Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange, who was married to a daughter of James II, Maria Stuart. The Jacobites were part of the political movement that aimed to restore the Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England and his heirs to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

A superior English army defeated the weary and hungry Jacobite army on April 15, 1746, chasing and crushing the Jacobites without mercy. The Battle of Culloden was the last major battle on British soil.

The Privy Council in London had decided that prisoners of the uprising in Scotland should be tried in England. The Jacobite prisoners were transported to Tilbury Fort for trial. Many were found guilty and executed in the most vile ways possible, prisoners were sold, bartered, deported, died of disease and some were pardoned.

Once the execution was completed, to set an example to anyone who would walk out of line. The bodies and especially the heads on the tops of spikes were put on display in all the cities between London and Glasgow in a monstrous procession. The loved ones and families who watched the trial had to walk back to Scotland along the same route.

The low road and the high road

“The Low Road” is the normal road on Earth and “The High Road” is the road in the sky you take when you’re dead.

Farewell to the Creeks

It is an old pipe tune called “Farewell to the Creeks”.The tune was written by a Pipe Major J.B. Robinson from the Gordon’s who was captured at Le Cateau in August 1914 as the German Army swept into France. “Creeks” referred to in the tune are at Portknockie on the Mory Firth in Scotland. In 1943 a text was written on the melody by Hamish Henderson: Farewell Ye Banks O’Sicily

We play it with our torches and the bagpipes, after Loch Lomond we play “Farewell to the Creeks”.  It’s in “The Scottish Guards.” It’s also a traditional Scottish tune.

Lyrics – Loch Lomond

By yon bonnie banks and by yon bonnie braes
Where the sun shines bright on Loch Lomond
Where me and my true love were ever wont to gae
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond

Chorus:
O ye’ll tak’ the high road and I’ll tak’ the low road
And I’ll be in Scotland afore ye
But me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o’ Loch Lomond

‘t Was there that we parted in yon shady glen

On the steep, steep side o’ Ben Lomond
Where in deep purple hue, the hieland hills we view
And the moon comin’ out in the gloamin’

Chorus

The wee birdies sing and the wild flowers spring
And in sunshine the waters are sleeping
But the broken heart, it kens nae second spring again
Tho’ the waefu’ may cease from their greeting

 

Buy this album now

Livestream Saturday October 10

Unfortunately our performances in Berlicum and Bladel are not possible due to the Covid measures, so we are going to live stream again. On the border between the Netherlands and Germany, so we can wave to William, he lives in Germany and like this we can still play together, you could say a borderline case =)

We hope to see you all this Saturday, October 10 at 4:00 PM CET. See you then! Live on Facebook & YouTube

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Caledonia – RTV Drenthe

Caledonia

Rapalje plays Caledonia here between the Hunebedden in Drenthe, with RTV Drenthe they went out to Hunebed het Loon (D15) to record the song “Caledonia”. This is one of the most requested songs at Rapalje.

We have seen many tears of sorrow, emotion and joy with this song. It has often happened that a wedding proposal is made when we start playing Caledonia. It is also regularly performed at funerals. There are many people in our midst who have a special thought about Caledonia and it remains a very beautiful song.

Background Information Caledonia

Dougie MacLean’s love song to his homeland has become an anthem of Scottish pride but it was written in just 10 minutes on a beach in France when he was in his early 20s.  “I wrote it in my very early 20s on a beach and then finished it off in a youth hostel somewhere around Paimpol in Brittany. “I was genuinely homesick and it was just a little song I wrote.” Dougie MacLean says he had been busking around Europe with three Irish guys but the day after writing the song – with its lyric “Caledonia you’re calling me and now I’m going home” – he set off back to Scotland.

Lyrics Caledonia

I don’t know if you can see
The changes that have come over me
In these last few days I’ve been afraid
That I might drift away
I’ve been telling old stories, singing songs
That make me think about where I came from
And that’s the reason why I seem
So far away today
Let me tell you that I love you and that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you’re calling me and now I’m going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia’s been everything I’ve ever had
I have moved and I’ve kept on moving
Proved the points that I needed proving
Lost the friends that I needed losing
Found new ones on the way
I have kissed the ladies and left them crying
Stolen dreams, yes there’s no denying
I have traveled hard with conscience flying
Somewhere with the wind
Let me tell you that I love you and that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you’re calling me and now I’m going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia’s been everything I’ve ever had
Now I’m sitting here before the fire
The empty room the forest choir
The flames that couldn’t get any higher
They’ve withered now they’ve gone
But I’m steady thinking my way is clear
And I know what I will do tomorrow
When the hands are shaken and the kisses flow
Then I will disappear
Let me tell you that I love you and that I think about you all the time
Caledonia you’re calling me and now I’m going home
If I should become a stranger you know that it would make me more than sad
Caledonia’s been everything I’ve ever had

Buy this album now

Celtic Folk Night – Drachten

We are playing our Celtic Folk Night in Drachten (NL) on Saturday the 26th of september 2 times on 1 evening, will you join us? Tickets available here Continue reading “Celtic Folk Night – Drachten”

Back to the theatre, Barneveld Still into Folk

 

Finally another theatre show, we are going to the Schaffelaar Theater in Barneveld to play our Still Into Folk show, there are only a few tickets left, will we see you there? Tickets available here

MPS Skulpturenpark Aftermovie

Ours gigs at MPS Skulpturenpark in Bückeburg were amazing! It really was fantastic to see all of our MPS family and friends again. We had an unforgettable time and we will be back at MPS soon! Here are some short clips of our show, hope you enjoy, be easy and free!

We will be back at MPS Skulpturenpark on 29 August, see you there?

Watch the Bückeburg complete Vlog with us on 22 August 20:00

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Help David support the cultural sector: https://rapalje.com/donation

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Cargo Bike Tour in Groningen with Rapalje

Did you see our Livestream from Groningen? We had a wonderful time playing on the streets of our hometown! Here are some clips of us riding the cargo bike en playing some tunes! Hope you enjoy this, be easy and free!

Support us at https://rapalje.com/stream

Help David support the cultural sector: https://rapalje.com/donation

Shop for beautiful Rapalje products: https://rapalje.com/shop/

Come and see us in person: https://rapalje.com/agenda/

 

Be a bad boy like David with our Rapalje multi-scarf!

Do you already have our multi-scarf? You can of course use it as a mask in public transport etc., but what about on the bike? Not only functional but also very nice to see! Get it here