Influential Dutch band Doe Maar are holding a competition in which anyone over eighteen can help write their next song.

Over the next eight weeks, each week the band will indicate which two lines of the song they need written, and entries are accepted when they are posted on Twitter using the hashtag #doemaarmee. The prizes are little more than what you would expect for co-writing a hit—royalties and free tickets—but I am guessing that most people will enter in the hope of being a part of the Doe Maar legend.

Doe Maar are a big thing in the Netherlands. They are to Nederpop what the Beatles are to Britpop, and what Kraftwerk are to techno. (The fact that they played ska and wrote open, honest lyrics was not part of that influence. The fact that they made quality songs in a modern genre in Dutch was.)

They had a short but bright career in the early eighties, reviving the pop song in the Dutch language single-handedly, scoring hit after hit and drawing halls full of teenage girls. The pressures of fame—seeing scores of young women faint in front of you night after night is apparently the opposite of ointment for the soul—led to a break-up of the band. They have been recording and performing together on and off since.

The competition started this week, and Doe Maar are currently looking for two lines that start with “Op een dag komt de dag (dat)” (one day will come the day (that)).

(Screenshot: doemaarmee.nu)