You'll never get used to it! Frequently, people ask me if I am not used to it by now; and I can not even believe they really ask me that question. A new record, you’ll never get used to it. Time to Swing will be in the shops next Friday. For months I was buried in an underground record studio, and only this week I will come out with the result of all that work. It is always scary. How will the word react? And the world starts with my mother. She is always one of the first to hear my new songs. As was the case for example with Danke Schön, a wonderful song by Bert Kaempfert. Danke Schön is about a love that is now over, but of which the beautiful memories remain. I saw my mum fighting back her tears while she was listening to it. This seemingly small reaction meant more to me than I can put into words. I now know my new CD touches her. And that is good, it eases my mind. I need that, that reassurance. I know we made a good record. But will the public appreciate it as such? Everyone in my surroundings is trying to put my mind as rest, while in the mean time I am also anxiously looking forward to that first copy, pressed, printed, sealed. Friday is the day! No doubt I will feel a bit ill at ease. At the same time I want everyone to immediately listen to it, take it in hand. Because a CD, in a box with a booklet with lyrics and pictures, to me means so much more than a soulless download. And luckily the CD cover from Time to Swing looks – that I already know – exactly as the title suggests: I am moving in the picture, in a suit designed by Stijn Helsen. The image is saying: ‘Hey people, it’s… Time to Swing’.  But it is a strange, confusing and almost forbidden feeling to write this while I am on my way to Burundi, a country where people are occupied with completely other things than glamour and glitter. With simply surviving, for example. I am going to Burundi, on a UNICEF mission. But actually I am dreaming of a world where organisations like UNICEF are unnecessary. A world where people in countries like Burundi can also sing that ‘it’s time to swing’. Because you know, poverty, you’ll never get used to it. But more about that next week. Bye everybody, Helmut