Here is another song that I discovered by listening to a video collection from DJ Pierre Noll. By all rights, this should be absolutely cringeworthy and terrible: the lead singer is large, bearded, wears sunglasses, and overemotes like crazy. The chorus is absolutely over the top in its orchestration. But I think I kind of like it, in a "good bad song" sort of way; everybody involved is completely sincere without a hint of irony.
I'm also not sure whether this video was produced by the band or by a fan, but I am wondering what the landmark is that is displayed whenever the chorus appears in the song. It seems to match up well.
The Cats were from the Netherlands. Between 1968 and 1974, they had six albums certified gold and 15 singles in the top ten in their native country, including five #1 singles of which "Lea" was the first. Despite the fact that they sang in English at least some of the time, they never achieved success elsewhere except for a few charting singles in nearby Belgium.
The reason that "Lea" might have been performed so sincerely was that it was not a song of lost love - it was a memorial tribute. According to this Dutch Wikipedia page, Lia Vertelman was a 20-year-old fan of the band who regularly attended their concerts. When bass player Arnold Mühren noticed that she was no longer appearing at their shows, he learned that she had died in a car accident and wrote the song in her honour.
The Cats kept plugging away for a bit before deciding to disband in 1979. They reunited briefly in the mid-1980s and recorded a reunion single in 2016. Piet Veerman, the lead singer on "Lea", had a solo hit in 1987 with "Sailing Home". I've heard this and will likely write about it too at some point - watch this space for updates!
Created August 31, 2026.