Looking at the music of Dutch rock band Focus, started in the late sixties by Thijs van Leer (b /31/03/48) with Jan Akkerman (b 24/12/46). Van Leer still performs and records under the name today (official site here). Akkerman's site here.

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20100503

Track by track 107 Flower Shower

Archive number: 107
Title: Flower Shower
Main Album: Focus 8
Track number: 11
Genre: Jolly Song
Studio: Peptide Studio, Vuren
Length: 05:37
Composer: Jan Dumée, Bobby Jacobs, Bert Smaak, Thijs van Leer
Musicians: Thijs van Leer – Hammond organ, Vocal; Jan Dumee – Guitars, Vocal; Bass - Bobby Jacobs; Drums - Bert Smaak
Producer: Geert Scheijgrond & Focus
Engineer: Geert Scheijgrond & Dick Kemper
Label: Musea/Red Bullet
Date of recording/release: A limited run of 500 of the album appeared in August 2002 to be followed by a general release on CD later that year. Also later on Paras and JVC Victor
Alternative version: None
Notes: Flower Shower is declared to be a bonus track. Clearly it is a joke but quite what is going on and the story behind it is unclear. Weird and surreal is how van Leer describes it. From the beginning the sound of a garden sprinkler or of a shower is heard. Five seconds in van Leer and Dumee (or is it Jacobs?) using a falsetto voice sing several verses in a rather silly way in Dutch. There is a little flute led break 00:58-01:06 and a later one at 02:30-02:46. It is not clear what they are singing exactly although they close with a brief rendition of a traditional Dutch birthday greeting - "Lang zal je leven, lang zal je leven, lang zal je leven in de gloria. In de gloria." (This means let him live long in the glory [ie in heaven]).

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