The Herman van Veen I & II CD integrally contains the first two Herman van Veen records, from 1968 and 1969 respectively. The albums contain songs that have become classics in Dutch (pop) music over time, such as Suzanne, from Herman van Veen II. The song was an adaptation of Leonard Cohen's original of the same name, and reached fourth place on the charts in 1969. Van Veen edited or translated
… more songs on his first two long players, for example by Charles Aznavour (De Neus), Jean Ferrat (Waar stays De Tijd), Bob Dylan (Ik Wil Jou) and Michel Legrand (Circles). For the Harlequin song, Van Veen used the composition Selve Amiche by the Italian baroque composer Antonia Caldara as a basis, and provided it with a fantasy text: 'flubblregabba stobblegabba flibblrigabba stikkiedikkiedropdrop' and so on. The versatility of the centipede Herman van Veen is already clearly present on this CD. (IV)more