Above picture: Gordon’s guitars. ‘Ik gebruik elke dag een andere gitaar.’

As it’s Valentine’s Day, we have two presents for you! First, you can register for an event of your choice for two people and only pay for one (please include the name and email address of your +1 in the remarks). Second, a beautiful Valentine’s Day song by our Dutch student Gordon – written in Dutch. Listen to it and read all about it in this blog!

Every Tuesday and Thursday, Gordon goes to his Dutch B1 course at Taalhuis Amsterdam. He also happens to be a musician, and after one of his classes he got inspired to write a whole song about his course. He named it The Lesson:

Lieke, his teacher on Tuesday, felt honored by this song, but also challenged him to go one step further: write one in Dutch too. And so he did! Gordon wrote a Valentine’s Day song called Ik hou van jou (‘I love you’), which we love to share with you now that it’s Valentines Day.

You can find the lyrics at the bottom of this page. We also asked Gordon a couple of questions about his music, and what he thought it was like to write his very first song in Dutch.

Hi Gordon! Can you tell us a bit about yourself as a musician?
I consider myself an enthusiastic amateur musician. I make simple songs about everything, with a guitar and my voice. I’m also proud of the music I make with my neighbour. Our group is called Bridge11 and we make space rock together. Our music can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

This month I’m composing songs on the occasion of the February Album Writing Month [a platform that challenges musicians to write one new song every other day in February]; that’s also where you can find The Lesson and Ik hou van jou.

What kind of music do you like?
Some of the artists I like myself include Bob Dylan, The Who, David Bowie, Spiritualized and Ron Sexsmith.

What do you think of Dutch music? Do you have any favourite songs?
To be honest, I don’t really listen to Dutch music much, but of course I have a lot of respect for it and I should listen to it more. I really like Jacques Brel, but I think he was Belgian? I think Amsterdam is a beautiful song, for example. I also like the songs of Boudewijn de Groot.

How did you find writing songs in Dutch?
It is difficult to write in Dutch because the sentence structure makes the cadence difficult. But I started with the simple phrase ‘Ik hou van jou’ and then I looked for other things to say.

What did you find difficult and what was easy?
The pronunciation was a bit difficult sometimes, so I tried to make short sentences. On the other hand, the melody wasn’t too hard to write.

What criteria do you think a good Valentine’s Day song should meet?
That is a good question. I don’t really listen to them so much, but I think they should be simple. For me, the emotion is also in the voice, just like the lyrics.

Do you have any other Valentine’s plans of your own?
Not really, maybe having a nice meal with my wife, and of course giving her flowers.

Thank you!

Lyrics

Wat moet ik doen, wat moet ik zeggen?

Wat moet ik zeggen om je te maken blijven?

Ik kan alleen maar zeggen, ik hou van jou

En elk klein ding dat je doet

Ik hou van je geest,

En de manier waarop je met het leven omgaat

je glimlach straalt in de zon

Ik wil alleen met jou zijn

Ik hou van jou

Jij maakt mijn leven compleet

jij geeft betekenis aan mijn dag

Wat meer kan ik zeggen

Ik hou elke dag meer van jou

Ik hou van jou

Ik hou van jou

(c) Words and music Gordon Todd (2023).

English

What should I do, what should I say?

What should I say to make you stay?

I can only say, I love you

And every little thing you do

I love your mind

And the way you deal with life

Your smile shines in the sun

I only want to be with you

I love you

You complete my life

you give meaning to my day

What more can I say

I love you more every day

I love you

I love you