When Guus Meeuwis started his solo career, in 2003, he released “Brabant,” which is the Dutch province where he was born. In this song, he sings about how he’s in a cold, faraway city – at the time, Guus was in Russia – and how he misses his beloved Brabant.
Guus Meeuwis (1972) is a Dutch singer who found out he was musically gifted in high school. After a romantic weekend with his girlfriend in Bruges, Belgium, he wrote the song “Het is een nacht” (It is a night), and with it, Meeuwis and his musical friends won a student song contest in 1994, which landed them a record deal. Thus, Guus Meeuwis & Vagant (named after his favorite café) was born. The group stopped performing in 2001, when Guus started his solo career, and in 2003, he released “Brabant,” which is the Dutch province where he was born. In it, he sings about how he’s in a cold, faraway city – at the time, Guus was in Russia – and how he misses his beloved Brabant, its coziness and sociability, its village pub, even the complaints it inspires, and most of all, his wife.
The song became a hit in the province pretty soon after its appearance, and it has stayed that way ever since. During the Netherlands’ annual Queen’s Day celebration in 2007, Queen Beatrix traveled to North Brabant’s capital, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and a full marketplace sang it. This event led to debates about Brabant’s anthem to flare up again, as North Brabant is the only province in the Netherlands without an official anthem.
As he writes the lyrics, Guus is in Moscow, which is apparently very cold. “A hat on my head, my collar is up, it is freezing cold here.” Brabant is known for its nice, friendly, and warm people, and Russia is nothing like that: “The people are stiff and there’s only one pub.” He was never homesick before, but now he longs for some friendliness. “The people are sleeping, the world is closing, and then I think of Brabant, because there is still light burning.” Guus misses the warmth of the village pub where he hangs out with his friends, which also the place where they started their musical journey. The people of Brabant are also very friendly towards others and have a slight accent. The language in southern Netherlands is softer than elsewhere in the country, and when you hear someone from the south speak, you know exactly where they’re from. Guus, in Russia, misses “speaking to people, with a soft G.”
Nevertheless, as all Dutch people tend to do, those in Brabant complain a lot. You don’t miss that when you’re there, but when you leave, you start missing everything. That’s what Guus experiences. “I even miss the complaining about everything, about nothing.” But most of all, he misses his wife. Guus has been married for several years and has a couple of children “in the south full of sun, I’m living with you, it is why, I love Brabant so much.”
Guss’s love song, for Brabant and his wife, ends with the fact that it’s cold and dark in Russia, and that he misses the warmth and the light. “Then I think of Brabant, because there is still light burning.”
Lyrics:
Een muts op mijn hoofd, mijn kraag staat omhoog. Het is hier ijskoud, maar gelukkig wel droog. De dagen zijn kort hier, de nacht begint vroeg. De mensen zijn stug, en er is maar een kroeg. Als ik naar mijn hotel loop,na een donkere dag, dan voel ik mijn huissleutel, diep in mijn zak. Ik loop hier alleen in een te stille stad ik heb eigenlijk nooit last van heimwee gehad, maar de mensen ze slapen, de wereld gaat dicht, en dan denk ik aan Brabant, want daar brandt nog licht. Ik mis hier de warmte van een dorpscafé, de aanspraak van mensen met een zachte G. ik mis zelfs het zeiken, om alles om niets, was men maar op Brabant, zo trots als een Fries. in het zuiden vol zon, woon ik samen met jou, het is daarom dat ik zo van Brabanders houd. Ik loop hier alleen in een te stille stad ik heb eigenlijk nooit last van heimwee gehad, maar de mensen ze slapen, de wereld gaat dicht, en dan denk ik aan Brabant, want daar brandt nog licht. De Peel en de Kempen, en de Meierij, maar het mooiste aan Brabant, ben jij dat ben jij Ik loop hier alleen in een te stille stad ik heb eigenlijk nooit last van heimwee gehad, maar de mensen ze slapen, de wereld gaat dicht, en dan denk ik aan Brabant, want daar brandt nog licht. en dan denk ik aan Brabant, want daar brandt nog licht. en dan denk ik aan Brabant, want daar brandt nog licht.
