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.
Nee meeuw
Boudewijn de Groot Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Jij vrije weggebruiker.
Maar laat mijn kind zijn speelgoedhuis
Van koek en kleurig suiker.
Nee meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Je vrijheid niet,
Want heel je hemel liegt.
Je taal is glinsterend als een aal
En kijk: ze trekken allemaal
Een slijmerig spoor van moorden.
Nee meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Je vrijheid niet,
Want heel je hemel liegt.
Hef het glas met wijn, rood
Van de dood van jood en neger.
Lest de glans van dit karmijn
De dorst niet van je leger?
Nee meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Je vrijheid niet,
Want heel je hemel liegt.
Dit spel dat ooit op dekens
Om soldaten van zacht tin ging.
De dood zweept als een kinderhand
Naar dood of overwinning.
Nee meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Je vrijheid niet,
Want heel je hemel liegt.
Vietnam, zo heet je nieuwste spel,
Je zet je zwartste stukken in.
En ik vergeet mijn dromen wel
Terwijl ik mijn geluk verzin.
O meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Je vrijheid niet,
Zolang je hemel liegt.
The lyrics to Boudewijn de Groot's song Nee Meeuw tell a story of rejection and mistrust towards the seagull as a symbol of freedom. The singer addresses the seagull directly, telling it to go about its free ways but to leave his child's toy house made of sweets and colorful sugar alone. The seagull is dismissed as a liar, with its language described as deceptive, and its freedom undesirable. The singer suggests that the seagull's words are as slippery as eels, and that it leaves a trail of murder wherever it goes. The seagull is depicted as the enemy, and its liberty seen as an illusion, with the singer rejecting the seagull's wings and its freedom altogether.
The singer also reflects on the death of marginalized and oppressed people, including Jews and Black people, using wine as a metaphor to comment on the futility of their deaths. The song also includes references to war games and Vietnam, where war is depicted as a game played on a board, with death wielded as a child's toy. The singer suggests that they might forget their dreams while pretending to be happy, yet they still reject the seagull's freedom, as it is based on lies. Overall, the lyrics tell a story of distrust towards the idea of freedom, suggesting that freedom is not as liberating as it appears to be.
Line by Line Meaning
Handel maar, wandel maar,
You are free to go anywhere and do anything you want.
Jij vrije weggebruiker.
You are a free road user.
Maar laat mijn kind zijn speelgoedhuis
Please allow my child to keep his toy house
Van koek en kleurig suiker.
Made of edible cookie and colorful sugar.
Nee meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
I don't want your wings, seagull.
Je vrijheid niet,
Or your freedom.
Want heel je hemel liegt.
Because your sky is a lie.
Je taal is glinsterend als een aal
Your speech is as shiny as an eel.
Vol gladde zilveren woorden.
Full of slick silver words.
En kijk: ze trekken allemaal
And look: they all leave behind
Een slijmerig spoor van moorden.
A slimy trail of murders.
Hef het glas met wijn, rood
Raise a glass of red wine
Van de dood van jood en neger.
To the death of Jew and Negro.
Lest de glans van dit karmijn
Does the shine of this carmine quench
De dorst niet van je leger?
The thirst of your army?
Dit spel dat ooit op dekens
This game that was once played on blankets
Om soldaten van zacht tin ging.
With soldiers made of soft tin.
De dood zweept als een kinderhand
Death waves like a child's hand
Naar dood of overwinning.
Towards death or victory.
Vietnam, zo heet je nieuwste spel,
Vietnam, that's your latest game,
Je zet je zwartste stukken in.
You put in your darkest pieces.
En ik vergeet mijn dromen wel
And I forget my dreams
Terwijl ik mijn geluk verzin.
As I imagine my happiness.
O meeuw, ik wil je wieken niet,
Oh seagull, I don't want your wings,
Je vrijheid niet,
Or your freedom,
Zolang je hemel liegt.
As long as your sky is a lie.
Contributed by Grayson O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.