NOS News••Amended
It contained several stylistic and grammatical errors, composer John Ewbank is said to have not invented the melody himself, and tens of thousands of people signed a petition to have it withdrawn. We are talking about the King’s Song, which is exactly ten years old today. In other words, ten years later the day you knew would come.
The budget of the song, which was specially written for the inauguration of King Willem-Alexander, was substantial at more than 574,000 euros. Many big names from the music world also contributed to it. Expectations on the eve of April 19, 2013, when the song was about to be released, were therefore sky-high.
But the reception was far from enthusiastic. Certain phrases in particular were heavily criticized. In addition to phrases like “the day you knew would come is finally here” there were passages like “through the rain and the wind I’ll stand by your side”, “if you ever lose your way” and “water…we lay it dry”.
Song withdrawn
Composer John Ewbank was showered with criticism and he even received threats on social media. He would not have invented the melody himself: according to many, it was identical to the song 10.000 Reasons by British Christian singer Matt Redman. The melody also reminded people of the theme of the movie Shrek and to a Japanese pan flute song. A day after the song was released, Ewbank withdrew it because of the flood of negative reactions.
Incidentally, the composer was hardly involved in the text. All Dutch people could make suggestions on a special website. The text was eventually written by Guus Meeuwis, Alain Clark, Daphne Deckers and Jack Poels, among others.
Watch and listen to the King’s song here:
The song was also razed to the ground at talk show tables. Linguist Wim Daniëls filleted just about every line of the song at the table Peacock & Witteman. “You can fall over every sentence. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong here,” he said at the time. He called the lyrics “of primary school level”.
Still stepped up
Two days after Ewbank had withdrawn the now controversial song, the National Investigation Committee – which had taken the initiative – decided to use the song as the official song for the king’s investiture. That also did not go without a hitch.
The idea was to have the song performed by choirs all over the country. In Limburg and Drenthe it was not performed due to lack of interest. In Utrecht the permit turned out not to be in order and in Overijssel a DJ replaced the choir.
The conductor of the children’s choir in Zeeland did not want children to sing the song because of the many language errors. In the end it was performed by a Belgian choir.
Sad for Ewbank
The king himself kept quiet about it king song. He said he thought it prudent not to comment, but regretted the controversy.
Willem-Alexander recently looked back on it in the podcast Through the eyes of the King, in conversation with Edwin Evers. He said he felt “pathetic” for John Ewbank. “It’s one of our very best songwriters. He has a fantastic repertoire. The idea was fantastic. Especially to work together at such a moment of bonding. And for a song like that to become such a divisive issue is unfair to those who have been doing it.”
The king himself does not put on the song. “I’ve heard it a few times.”
In this video we look back on ten years of Willem-Alexander’s reign:
King ten years in the saddle, the ride so far
