Cornelis Vreeswijk

 

 

The singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk (1937-1987) was born in the Netherlands, but he and his family moved to Sweden in 1950. 

He seems to have an extremely high standing among his fans, and I’m one of them.  Some reasons why:

«Balladen om båtsman Charlie Donovan» (The ballad about the boatswain Charlie Donovan) (by Cornelis):

 

Notice the wonderful guitar playing.

«Til Ulla i fönstret på Fiskartorpet, Middagstiden, en Sommardag» (To Ulla in the window at Fiskartorpet, at dinner time, a summer day) (by Carl Michael Bellman (1740-1795)):

 

This is my favourite song with acoustic guitar.

Then it’s “Saskia” (by Cornelis), of course – how beautiful!

 

 

If Cornelis had been American or British, and sung in English, he probably would have been world famous, and considered to be among the best.