PLEKJE BIJ DEN MOLEN, HET

Created on 10/09/2001
Latest update on 08/04/2021

Artist: Willy Derby
Author: Jan Van Laar Sr.
Label: Odeon
Year: 1935

B-side of Twee Ogen Zo Blauw; he recorded it long as Van Laar sold him his publication- and exploitation rights, something the author regretted the rest of his life. Jan Van Laar, windmill builder by profession, wrote more songs about mills. His De Molen Aan De Vliet from revue Wedergevonden in 1914 (that's twenty years before his ultimate mill song), lyrics go: Daar bij die mooie molen, die molen aan de vliet, gaan wij ons nestje bouwen, daar zingen wij ons lied. Became a hit for Duo Kila (Odeon) in 1922. His mill song that put Van Laar on the map is now the sole subject of a book (Daar Bij Die Molen by Lutgard Mutsaers - Boek.scout 2021). Part of the melody seems to have German roots, more precisely the line Das gibt's nur einmal, das kommt nicht wieder from Christel's Lied by Robert Gilbert & Werner Heymann, the hit from film Der Kongress Tanzt.

Covers:

1935:

August de Laat [for Decca]

1935:

Bob Scholte

1935:

Lou Bandy [Derby's brother]

1935:

Kees Pruis

1935:

Bert van Dongen [as Daar Bij Die Molen]

1935:

Two Cavelli's [accordion version]

1936:

Géodel [in Flanders]

1949:

Primo Scala [as The Windmill Song]

1949:

Leo Fuld [also in English as The Windmill Song]

1949:

Ethel Smith [as The Windmill's Turning (The Windmill Song)]

1949:

Andrews Sisters [idem]

1956:

Straatzangers [alias Max Van Praag & Willy Alberti as Daar Bij Die Molen]

1959:

Schriebl & Hupperts

1961:

Orsini Trio [as Das gibt's nur einmal, as a single and title track lp]

1963:

Herman Emmink [as Daar Bij Die Molen]

1973:

Bob Benny [idem]

1977:

André van Duin [idem]

1978:

Noordzee Duo

1978:

Aimable [as Daar Bij Die Molen]

1979:

Frank & Mirella [idem]

1985:

Henk De Bruin [idem]

1989:

Johnny Hoes & De Zangeres Zonder Naam [combine De Molen Aan De Vliet and Daar Bij Die Molen]

1994:

Robert Long [as Daar Bij Die Molen]

1996:

Harry Slinger [idem]

1998:

Koos Alberts [idem]

2007:

André Rieu [after all, it's a waltz we're talking about here]

Since January first 2020 Jan Van Laar's Het Plekje Bij Den Molen/Daar Bij Die Molen has become public domain. Not a word about Daar Bij Die Molen on Van Laar's grave, who died in 1949; worse: this grave has been cleared.

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

No Facebook No Twitter