What does an American singer-songwriter living in Finland owe famed Belgian actor Jan Decleir? Apparently, an appreciation for the Dutch language. In 2006, San Francisco Bay Area native Amelia Ray spent three months on holiday studying Dutch at the University of Amsterdam. She was struggling to learn the language until she discovered the film Karakter in the university’s media library. In short order, Ray unearthed newfound motivation to study through a love of Decleir’s acting.

In the Oscar-winning 1997 film Karakter, Decleir stars as the cold-blooded bailiff Dreverhaven. The role earned him Joseph Plateau and Paris Film Festival best actor awards.

“I was struck by his ability to command entire scenes without uttering a word and his gift for portraying an overwhelming feeling of vulnerability,” Ray, who studied film at Howard University, says. “His films helped sustain my interest in learning Dutch, and I vowed to write a song letter to him one day.”

For years, Ray walked around with the melody to the beginning of that letter, “Beste meneer Decleir, vol van karakter” in her head. But the song never seemed to progress from there. Then, in 2020, she happened upon a portrait of Decleir on Instagram by Belgian artist Richard Hanssens. Ray thought the portrait would make a great single cover for the song she hadn’t yet written, and saved the post to her favourites.

It would take another two years before inspiration would strike. Or rather, before Ray would force herself to sit down and finish the song.

“I spent most of last year trying to fund for Europe for Ukraine – a project to gather musicians from 50 European countries to record an original song in support of Ukraine,” Ray, who has lived in Finland since 2019, states. “I ran into several roadblocks and got pretty depressed. In an effort to distract myself, I decided to focus on some projects that had been sitting on the shelf.”

“Beste meneer Decleir” was one of them.

Of course, the song – which traces Ray’s journey learning the language with Decleir’s help – had to be written in Dutch. A polyglot with a degree in French who worked for years as a translator and interpreter in Spain, Ray had written 2014’s “Ana no potable” – a comedic, scathing critique of the then mayor of Madrid, Ana Botella – in Spanish. But Ray had never before written in Dutch. With the help of Google Translate, online dictionaries and thesauruses, and countless hours spent studying songwriters like Boudewijn de Groot, Willem Vermandere and Herman van Veen, she pieced together a very rough draft. Ray’s friend Laura Weynants, of Ekeren, helped her correct it. “I relented to most of her suggestions to improve comprehension, and she, in turn, yielded to some of my artistic demands, resulting in a bit of Dutchish or Englutch, if you prefer,” Ray jokes. The song references some of Decleir’s films, including the aforementioned Karakter and De Zaak Alzheimer.

Weynants also gave Ray pronunciation lessons, and while an attentive student, Ray says most of her training went out of the window once she was in front of the microphone. “Some lines are sung with a Dutch accent, some with a Flemish accent, and there’s even a bit of French in there. But mostly it’s an American just doing her best to convey heartfelt appreciation in a second language.”

With the lyrics and music completed, all that was left was the issue of the cover art.

In November 2022, Ray contacted Hanssens to ask permission to use his portrait of Jan Decleir. Hanssens was excited about the idea but couldn’t legally grant permission without approval from the photographer of the image upon which the portrait was based. And the only copy of the photograph Hanssens had was uncredited. Thus began an adventurous two-month search involving Jan Decleir’s management, several photographers who had taken similar photos, and a British crime novelist. Eventually, with the help of Het Nieuwsblad’s editorial team, the elusive photographer, Belgium’s Wim Daneels, was located. Daneels gladly blessed the project.

Musically, Ray took inspiration from Barbara’s 1970 chanson lament “Madame” – which is sung to the sender of a letter – and Wannes van de Welde’s “Voor De Deur Van De Taverne”. “I wanted it to feel solemnly respectful but also a bit playful. The arrangement had to be elegant and harken to kleinkunst,” Ray explains, referring to the early 1960s Flemish and Dutch singer-songwriter genre. The song features Roman Gottwald on accordion and Gustavo Eiriz on guitar.

“I hope the song will bring Mr. Decleir a fraction of the joy he has provided me over the years,” Ray states.

Though Ray never took another Dutch course, through watching (mostly Decleir’s) films over the years, she still possesses pretty fair listening and reading comprehension. Though she admits, “I may never perfect the ‘ggg’ sound.”