Boudewijn de Groot (born 20 May 1944, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies) is … Read Full Bio ↴Boudewijn de Groot (born 20 May 1944, Batavia, Java, Dutch East Indies) is a Dutch singer/songwriter who has enjoyed great popularity in The Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium since the 1960s. His work with his lyricist and partner-in-crime, Lennaert Nijgh (1945-2002).

De Groot's most famous songs include Avond, Welterusten mijnheer de President, Het Land van Maas en Waal and Jimmy.

Boudewijn de Groot was born in a Japanese concentration camp in 1944. His mother died here in 1945. The family returned to The Netherlands in 1946. He first reached the music charts in 1965 with his song Meisje Van 16.

In these early years, De Groot was a Dutch equivalent of Jacques Brel; his songs were, lushly orchestrated 'chansons'. In the late 1960s he adopted more of a singer-songwriter style and his album, Picknick (1967) is a psychedelic sixties gem, generally regarded as one of the best Dutch albums ever.

Boudewijn de Groot recorded twelve studio albums in total and also released many live albums and compilations. Lennaert Nijgh wrote the lyrics for the majority of De Groot's work. Even after Nijgh's death in 2002, De Groot continued to use unfinished Nijgh lyrics on several songs on 2007's Lage Landen.

In 2005, De Groot's Avond (originally written in 1973, released in 1996) suddenly topped Holland's immensely popular Top 2000 end-of-year song chart on Radio 2, much to the surprise of De Groot, who reckons it's "not even my best song, let alone the best song of all time".

Boudewijn de Groot toured Dutch theatres for years and years on end, but decided to stop doing so in 2014, the year of his 70th birthday. He feels well and is in great shape, but doesn't want to play his hit songs night after night. He announced that he would continue to record and release music, but would only do the occasional live performance. 2015 saw the release of Achter Glas, his 12th studio album.

September 2016 saw him embark on a theatre tour under the moniker Vreemde Kostgangers, a collaboration with his long time friends and fellow legendary Dutch songwriters, George Kooymans (of Golden Earring) and Henny Vrienten.

Babylon
Boudewijn de Groot Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

refr.:
Meisjes wachten nachten
Op de god Sjalomon Ra
De draak bewaakt Ophelia
Die in de laan der leguanen
Met jasmijn onder platanen
Terugdenkt aan Antarctica
Helion verkracht daarna

Voor mijn ogen Ariadne
Zacht glazuur is Babylon
Tempelgoud glanst helder
In de stralen van de zon
Daar rijst herboren Helion
Door de gongen onderbroken
Spoort de zon in stroken
Voor de Tongenpoort omhoog
Helion doodt Oberon
Voor de ogen van Apollo
Zacht glazuur is Babylon

Priesters heffen horens
Voor de witte stenen god
Elysee beweent het lot
Als het leger heeft gestreden
Er zijn meesters overleden
Bij het eerste lentefeest
Helion speelt de bigot
Voor de ogen van Nemesis
Zacht glazuur is Babylon

refr.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Boudewijn de Groot's song Babylon are filled with abstract and surreal images, creating a dream-like atmosphere. The chorus speaks of waiting for the god Solomon Ra and a dragon guarding Ophelia, who is lost in memories of Antarctica under the platanus with jasmine. Helion, a character in the song, then rapes Ariadne while Babylon, a city of gold and temple, shines in the rays of the sun. The verse continues with the image of priests lifting horns for a white stone god and Elysee mourning the death of masters at the first spring festival. The song ends with Helion playing the bigot for Nemesis while Babylon remains a place of soft enamel.

The lyrics to Babylon are cryptic and fraught with symbolism. The repeated mention of characters and settings from mythology and history, from Solomon Ra to Apollo, invites interpretation and speculation. The allusive and elliptical references within individual lines, like the dragon that guards Ophelia or the bigot that Helion plays, also serve to create a sense of elusive meaning. The main thread that seems to run through the song is that of a city or civilization known as Babylon, which represents a kind of perfect or idealized place, but which is also characterized by violence and corruption.

Line by Line Meaning

Meisjes wachten nachten
Girls wait for nights

Op de god Sjalomon Ra
For the god Solomon Ra

De draak bewaakt Ophelia
The dragon guards Ophelia

Die in de laan der leguanen
Who in the iguana lane

Met jasmijn onder platanen
With jasmine under the plane trees

Terugdenkt aan Antarctica
Thinks back to Antarctica

Helion verkracht daarna
Helion rapes afterwards

Voor mijn ogen Ariadne
Ariadne in front of my eyes

Zacht glazuur is Babylon
Soft enamel is Babylon

Tempelgoud glanst helder
Temple gold shines bright

In de stralen van de zon
In the rays of the sun