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.
De Roos
Boudewijn de Groot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
En nu ik halverwege ben
Moet ik de weg zijn kwijtgeraakt
In het donker woud dat ik niet ken
Daar voor me steken op een muur
Gebroken scherven glas omhoog
Van flessen, ooit gevuld met wijn
En zo vijandig scherp te zijn
Er is een deur die openstaat
Ik ga er in een droom doorheen
Een pad door groene tuinen gaat
Als in een doolhof nergens heen
Bij vijvers stil en bodemloos
In het midden van een scherpe ring
Van doorns onmeedogenloos
Bloeit in de groene schemering
De roos, de rode roos
Nooit was een geur zo zoet
En nooit een huid zo zacht
En nooit zo rood
De druppels bloed
In het groene gras die nacht
Boudewijn de Groot's De Roos is a poetic and metaphorical song that deals with the themes of lostness and redemption. The song's first stanza opens with the singer admitting to being lost halfway through a long journey, in a dark forest he does not recognize. The second stanza presents a stark image of broken glass and shattered wine bottles, symbols of despair and hopelessness. However, the third stanza provides a glimmer of hope as the singer discovers an open door and takes a journey through green gardens that lead to a still pond. In the midst of a sharp ring of thorns, the red rose blooms, glistening in the green light. The song ends with a powerful image of the singer's blood dripping in the grass, a possible indication of rebirth or redemption.
The song creates a dreamlike ambiance with its lyrics that are laden with mythical allusions. The dark forest that the singer finds himself in could be a reference to Dante's Inferno or the forest from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. The broken glass and shattered wine bottles could have held the weight of the biblical meaning of wine, which is often to symbolize joy and communion. However, in this song, the broken bottles signify the loss of joy, and the shattered dreams and hopes of the singer. The garden the singer walks through could be a reference to the Garden of Eden, which is paradise lost. This image is further emphasized by the ring of thorns that surrounds the red rose, symbolizing that paradise is surrounded by thorny obstacles in life.
Line by Line Meaning
Ik heb een lange reis gemaakt
I have traveled a long journey
En nu ik halverwege ben
And now that I am halfway
Moet ik de weg zijn kwijtgeraakt
I seem to have lost my way
In het donker woud dat ik niet ken
In a dark forest that is unknown to me
Daar voor me steken op een muur
In front of me there is a wall
Gebroken scherven glas omhoog
With broken glass shards pointing upward
Van flessen, ooit gevuld met wijn
From bottles that were once filled with wine
Het is wel een bitter lot zo droog
It's a bitter fate for them to be so dry
En zo vijandig scherp te zijn
And to be so hostilely sharp
Er is een deur die openstaat
There is a door that is open
Ik ga er in een droom doorheen
I am going through it in a dream
Een pad door groene tuinen gaat
A path goes through green gardens
Als in een doolhof nergens heen
Like in a maze going nowhere
Bij vijvers stil en bodemloos
Near still and bottomless ponds
In het midden van een scherpe ring
In the middle of a sharp ring
Van doorns onmeedogenloos
With merciless thorns
Bloeit in de groene schemering
Blossoms in the green twilight
De roos, de rode roos
The rose, the red rose
Nooit was een geur zo zoet
Never has a scent been so sweet
En nooit een huid zo zacht
And never has a skin been so soft
En nooit zo rood
And never so red
De druppels bloed
The drops of blood
In het groene gras die nacht
In the green grass that night
Contributed by Asher C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
KinderenAltijdPrijs
Wauw wat geeft ze dit nummer en nieuwe dimensie1!!!
Orion3G
Vind het moeilijk te geloven dat Roos Rebergen zo is als ze nuchter is, had altijd wel verwacht dat ze wat rookte.
gitaar079
wie is er dood...in the haunted mansion...
ik wil boudewijn horen
desertstormpawnage
wtf moet dit voorstellen?
frankdeclercq
groots