This article is missing information about this song. Please expand the article to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page.(December 2018)
This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Dutch. (July 2019) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Dutch article.
Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 974 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary Content in this edit is translated from the existing Dutch Wikipedia article at [[:nl:Merck toch hoe sterck (lied)]]; see its history for attribution.
You should also add the template {{Translated|nl|Merck toch hoe sterck (lied)}} to the talk page.
"Merck toch hoe sterck" (Dutch: transl.Notice how strong) is a Dutchwar song and sea shanty, written around 1626 by Adriaen Valerius (who adapted the "Wilhelmus", the national anthem of the Netherlands). The music is based on an Elizabethan lute song written by Thomas Campion in 1606 (What if a Day or a Month).[1][2]
Lyrics[]
Merck toch hoe sterck nu in 't werck sich al steld,
Die 't allen tijd' so ons vrijheit heeft bestreden.
Siet hoe hij slaeft, graeft en draeft met geweld,
Om onse goet en ons bloet en onse steden.
Hoort de Spaensche trommels slaen!
Hoort Maraens trompetten!
Siet hoe komt hij trecken aen, Bergen te bezetten.
(Chorus)
Berg op Zoom hout u vroom,
Stut de Spaensche scharen;
Laet 's Lands boom end' sijn stroom
Trouwlijck doen bewaren!
't Moedige, bloedige, woedige swaerd
Blonck en het klonck, dat de vonken daeruijt vlogen.
Beving en leving, opgeving der aerd,
Wonder gedonder nu onder was nu boven;
Door al 't mijnen en 't geschut,
Dat men daeglijcx hoorde,
Menig Spanjaert in sijn hut
In sijn bloed versmoorde.
(Chorus)
Die van Oranjen quam Spanjen aen boord,
Om uijt het velt als een helt 't geweld te weeren;
Maer also dra Spinola 't heeft gehoord,
Trekt hij flux heen op de been met al sijn heeren.
Cordua kruijd spoedig voort,
Sach daer niet te winnen, Don Velasco liep gestoord:
't Vlas was niet te spinnen
(Chorus)
Notice how strongly he puts himself to work
Who has ever fought against our freedom
See how he slaves away, digs and marches with force
For our goods and our blood and our cities.
Hear the Spanish drums beat!
Hear the Moorish trumpets!
See how he comes over
to occupy Bergen.
(Chorus)
Berg op Zoom stay faithful,
Stem the Spanish hordes;
Let our land's trees and its streams
be loyally guarded!
The courageous, bloody, wrathful sword
It shone and it clanged such that the sparks flew from it.
Quaking and shaking, upheaval of earth,
Wonder and thunder, what was below is now above;
Through all the mines and the gunnery,
That one could hear all day,
Many a Spaniard in his cabin
choked on his own blood.
(Chorus)
He of Orange came to oppose the Spanish,
From the field he repelled their violence as a hero;
And as soon as Spinola heard it,
He beat a fast retreat with all his lords.
Cordua soon crawled forth,
He failed to win there Don Velasco was disturbed
There was nothing he could do