Goemans had wanted Kraaijkamp, but knew better than to call him early in the morning he called Visscher, since he did not drink. In 2006, Visscher, a friend of Goemans from the cafe, explained that he had been asked to record a demo for the song the morning after Goemans and Schallies had finally put music to the lyrics, with Schallies playing piano. Henk Visscher, singer as well as guitar and bass player with Johnny Kraaijkamp, was the first to sing and record the song, though other sources have Kraaijkamp sing it first, in the Café de Paris near the Leidseplein. Goemans published the song under a pseudonym, Peter Shott he was a diplomat’s son and his father allowed him to be associated with the popular music industry only if he did so under an assumed name. Schallies denies rumors that Enrico Neckheim was responsible for the music.
It wasn’t supplied with sheet music and recorded until 1956, when an arrangement was written by pianist Dick Schallies (then a member of the Metropole Orkest) since (Schallies explained) Goemans couldn’t write music. Gisteren een geweldige middag gehad op de Amsterdamse grachten. Goemans was inspired to write the song in 1949 while walking across the bridge where the Prinsengracht and the Leidsegracht intersect. A transitional verse suggests that the trees, high above traffic, and the boats on the water are unchanged.Īccording to the refrain, the speaker has given his heart to the Amsterdam canals Amsterdam fills his thoughts, and nothing could be better than to be an Amsterdammer. The second explains that after having traveled widely the speaker still longs to return to the city “on the Amstel and the IJ”. The first verse recounts a childhood experience in the house of the grandparents, a house now occupied by other people and partly converted to office space.
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