Will the most famous Christmas song in the Netherlands also become a hit in America? Flappie has been translated into English and the song has been played hundreds of thousands of times. Youp van ‘t Hek’s song is by no means the first song to be translated, although not every song lends itself to it.
The song was translated by the American Todd Rundgren. Rundgren told music magazine RollingStone that he heard the song in the Netherlands and was surprised that everyone here apparently eats rabbit at Christmas. “Children have a rabbit as a pet until the animal suddenly disappears at Christmas.” In addition to that surprise, recognisability also plays a role in the translation of numbers.
“A song must first of all have universal significance in order to be translated at all. The content of the text must suit every country”, explains music journalist Jan van der Plas. “There is someone with a rabbit like Flappie in every country.”
Another well-known example is ‘The little cafe on the harbor’ by Vader Abraham. “In every country you have a café at a harbor somewhere.” Probably the reason why the translated song ‘Die kleine Kneipe’ became a hit in Germany.
Lil Kleine
But Lil ‘Kleine’s song Drank en Drugs also got a German translation: Stof fund Snapps. That also became a big hit in Germany. “The song must already be a big hit in the Netherlands and then it happens to be heard by foreign music publishers.”
Another well-known internationally translated hit is the song Suzanne from VOF de Kunst. That song was translated into English, Spanish, Italian and Greek.
“Conversely, there are also many Dutch hits that have been translated from another language, which is much easier.” Well-known examples are ‘You are like that’ by Jeroen van der Boom. The original is the Spanish song ‘Silencio’. And perhaps even more famous is ‘Most dreams are fraud’ Marco Borsato. Translated from Italian.
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