So close and yet so far is Amsterdam

Many songs about the city are widely known and still get plenty of airplay, think for instance of the song 'Aan de Amsterdamse Grachten' (On the Amsterdam Canals). So the name of the artist Kris De Bruyne may not immediately ring a bell. Still, we are willing to bet that if you click Play below, you will hear a song that you do somehow know from somewhere far away.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3XAjnZEjTkNEplyt7G57EC

A hiding place

At the start of 2021 the Belgian singer Kris De Bruyne died at the age of 70, near his birthplace Antwerp. His beautiful 1975 song about a love that has found a hiding place in Amsterdam only reached the general public around 2007, when the song 'Amsterdam' was used in a commercial for the cheese brand Old Amsterdam.

Which of us is an outlaw. Which of us can still do anything. So close and yet so far is Amsterdam
Kris De Bruyne

Setting the mood in a commercial

De Bruyne's song gained fame through a national TV spot by the cheese brand, which, surprisingly enough, does not even come from Amsterdam but from Huizen. The combination of old footage of the city (whether genuine or not) accompanied by De Bruyne's wonderful music makes it a magical spot. Judging by the beautiful commercial, you would almost think Old Amsterdam was really being eaten back in the 1930s...

The song by Kris De Bruyne performed in a commercial from 2007.