I would appreciate some of DU's good vibes or

[highplainsdem]

119. I found out today that George influenced Dutch music in a way I'd never

imagined.

I already knew he'd influenced Dutch music not just through his own bands and solo projects, but through artists he'd discovered, written hit songs for, and produced and/or played on their albums. But I'd had no idea a funny remark he'd made to a neighbor and friend in 1977 had inspired a hit record.

The neighbor was Peter Koelewijn - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Koelewijn - who's most famous for having the first big Dutch-language rock'n'roll hit with Kom Van Dat Dak Af (Get Off That Roof), recorded in 1959. I've posted about that song before, since George and Boudewijn de Groot sang it in 2007, with Peter joining them on stage, and I posted video of that as the last video in reply 5 of a Music Appreciation thread about the last Vreemde Kostgangers album - https://www.democraticunderground.com/103496354#post5 - explaining George's VK bandmates' backgrounds and their previous appearances together. But I'd had no idea then that there was any other connection between George and Peter. The Wikipedia article on Peter had a few words about it, but I'd skimmed right past them.

Today, while checking Google for any news about George, I saw a result for the Dutch Wikipedia page on the song George had inspired (the page must have just been updated).

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Je_wordt_ouder_papa

I found out from that page that George and Peter had been neighbors in 1977 when a little boy approached them when they were outside. The kid, who looked about the same age as Peter's 8-year-old son, Joep, immediately asked George for his autograph. He then turned to Peter, who expected to be asked for his autograph as well. It was 18 years since his biggest hit had been recorded, but Peter had reunited his '50s band for a glam rock phase from 1970 to 1975.

But the boy didn't want his autograph. "Do you know where Joep is?" he asked Peter. "I was going to play with him."

George was amused and told Peter, "You're getting older, Papa."

And Peter turned that line - "Je wordt ouder papa" - into a '50s style rock song for his solo album that year. A song about a man in his thirties who still thinks he can do everything, but he's heard his 8-year-old son referring to him as "my old man" when talking to his friends. And while he can still beat the kid at ping pong, it's getting harder, and he knows the kid thinks he's an old fart.

The song was the first single off the album, and a hit in the Netherlands.

Peter was 36 in 1977. Not old. I'll post a video below of him performing the song in 1977. He was only 7 years and three months older than George, who was 29 then. 1977 was already 12 years after Golden Earring's first Dutch hit. But Radar Love had been a mega-hit just a few years earlier, and the kid asking for George's autograph probably hadn't realized George was also old enough to be Joep's father. I'll post a video of Golden Earring from a 1977 concert, too. George (in the red shirt, playing guitar and singing backup) looks exhausted at the end of a long concert, but he still looked like a kid then.