Antwerpen

Album: Common Dreads (2009)
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Songfacts®:

  • Antwerpen or Antwerp is the largest town in Flanders, the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. It is situated on the River Schelde. Singer Rou Reynolds explained to Kerrang! May 2, 2009: "We played there last year. We caught a cab with this driver who was a total character. He told us a story about his city in a really hard to decipher accent, so I started to record him with my phone. In Flemish, ant means hand, and twerpen means to throw. A giant used to charge a toll for people to cross the river Schelde. If you couldn't pay the toll, he'd chop your hand off and throw it in the river. The story is that a Roman soldier fought the giant and won, cut his hand off and threw it in the water. It's a good metaphor for positive aggression, taking down the giants."

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