In '88 they have a small hit with "Alleen met Jou" (Only with you) and win the Baccara-trophy in the squad of Raymond Van Het Groenewoud.
In 1989 they participated in the preselection to determine the Belgian delegate to the Eurovision Song Festival. Clouseau finishes second (behind Ingeborg), but now has a foot in the door. The breakthrough comes immediately with the single "Anne" and an album "Hoezo ?" (How so?). Screaming teenagers all over the place and smashed record sales in Belgium are the consequence. The Netherlands follow, when "Daar Gaat Ze" (There she goes) becomes a big hit. The 2nd album "Of zo" (Or so) also proves to be very successful.
1990 is a year which can only be described as the year of "Clouseau-mania". Everything the boys touch turns to gold.
Manager Hans Kusters : "They really appeal to the teens. Simple songs, but also lyrics in the form of "She comes, she goes or she is". No fuss about apartheid or the nuclear missiles. Clean, cute, sometimes rocking, sometimes slowing, always charming melodies with innocent and easily recognizable love- and dance stories."
In 1991, the Benelux is getting too small for the group so they (or at least the record company) decide to try to storm the European market.
This time they are appointed to participating for Belgium in the Eurovisionsongcontest (where the finish very low with "Geef het op", despite the very high hopes Flanders was posing in them). They record a CD in English called "Close Encounters" (mainly consisting of adaptations of their own Dutch songs) of which they sell 200.000 copies in the slipstream of Roxette's European tour of 1992.
The 2nd English-language album "In every small town", however, is a complete commercial failure. Frontman Koen Wauters starts a career as a television presenter and race-pilot (Paris-Dakar), kicks a few old friends out of the band and refocuses on the Dutch market with the CD "Oker" (Ochre) in 1995.
On the album "Adrenaline", only the two Wauters' Brothers remain. The album shows a more adult Clouseau. They have successfully survived the hype and are starting to produce decent material again, without the necessity to "score" or match the sales figures of the 1989-1990 craze.
What about the band members that were left behind :
- Bob Savenberg has ventured to a successful solo career (e.g. the duet with Dutch singer Stef Bos in "Breek de stilte" and his solo CD "Vuur en Vlam"). He also presented "Ultratop" (the Belgian hitparade on VRT) and has a small company that builds websites. In 2001, he did the show "Popstars" for VT4.
- Tjenne Berghmans has played in about every other Belgian group (e.g. The Scabs, Betty Goes Green ...) since he left Clouseau.
- Karel Theys, formerly of the Employees, was at the base of another Kloot Per W project, de Lama's in 1993-94.
In 1997, they release a compilation album "Clouseau 1987-1997" and have a celebration on their 10 years of existence. Koen Wauters (although hard to recognize amidst all the publicity for Belgacom) finishes another Dakar at the beginning of 1997. He also continues his television career (Familieraad, Koen & The Gang, Wedden dat ...), and fights off a female stalker in his bathroom. In 1999, he marries Carolijn Lillipally (who was a VJ for MTV-Europe).
In 1999 Clouseau conquers Flanders for the umpteenth time, on this occasion with the new CD "In Stereo". In a production with a lot of violins by Jean Blaute (see RvhG, Kate's Kennel ..) and with songs that were written by people such as Frank van der Linden (of De Mens), Jan Leyers (of My Velma & Soulsister), Mark Vanhie (The Bet, Sarah) and others, and pulled by singles such as "Heb ik ooit gezegd" (a Van Morisson-cover) and "Altijd meer en meer" the group even makes it back again as a headliner at Marktrock (where it all had started). This leads them to a new live-album, simply called "Live", released in 2000.
In 2001 they opened with an album with nothing but slow songs for the Dutch market - entitled "Ballades" - but in recording their next album they deliberately stepped away from this trend in ever slower songs. En Dans - wrapped in a funny cover hand-drawn by Marcel Vanthilt, who also sings on one song - was released in November 2001, and contained much more uptempo songs, taking them back to the starting days of the band. Most striking track was certainly the title song "En Dans", Clouseau in an festive disco-outfit. However the first single that was taken from the album was a ballad "Ik Geef Me Over" (I surrender) with a video that caused some controversy due to the smoking habit of Koen. Through the usual visits to radio stations and a break-in into the BigBrother house, the CD certainly didn't miss it's start, as it deserved platinum for 30,000 copies in the presales, and entered the album-charts at n°1. On the live-front it remained fairly quiet, working towards two gigantic gigs in the Sportpaleis in Antwerp in the month of December.
The band released their latest CD Vonken & Vuur ("Sparks & Fire") in March 2007.
Band members (original line-up) :
- Koen Wauters (vocals)
- Kris Wauters (keyboard and guitar)
- Bob Savenberg (drums and backing vocals)
- Karel Theys (bass)
- Tjenne Berghmans (guitar).
Albums :
- Hoezo(Hans Kusters Music - 1989)
- Of Zo (Hans Kuster Music - 1990)
- Close Encounters (EMI - 1991)
- Doorgaan (tot je niet meer op je benen kan staan) (EMI- 1992)
- In Every Small Town (EMI - 1993)
- Oker (EMI - 1995)
- Adrenaline (EMI - 1996)
- In Stereo (EMI - 1999)
- En Dans (EMI - 2001)
- Live in het Sportpaleis DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2003)
- Vanbinnen (2004)
- Clouseau in 't lang DVD ("Live at the Sport Palace, Antwerp") (2006)
- Vonken en Vuur (2007)
- Zij aan Zij (2009)
Compilations :
- Clouseau Live (Hans Kusters Music - 1991)
- Clouseau 1987-1997 (EMI, 1997)
- Live (EMI, 2000)
- Ballades (EMI, 2001)
One Last Night
Clouseau Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And now I know where I belong
You'd had enough and I didn't see
How the darkness closed in on me
I want you back again
Wherever you are, whatever you do
You must decide, I will leave it up to you
But I go on praying that my wish will come true
I want you back again
(Chorus)
Give me one last night to love you
You and I alone, happy on our own
Give me one last night to love you
You and I alone, living on our own
You had high hopes, I had no time
So I never noticed when you cried
I realize how foolish I've been
Won't you forgive me and come back again
'cause I want you close to me
(Chorus)
Lend me your voice, Lord, to pray and to plead
And if in the end you will go as you said
I'll be full of regrets and I'll never forget
(Chorus)
You were so right and I was wrong
The song "One Last Night" by Clouseau is a heartfelt ballad that tells the story of a man who has lost someone he loves and wants to win them back. The lyrics convey regret, pleading, and a desire for forgiveness. The singer acknowledges his mistakes and admits that he didn't realize how much he had hurt the other person until it was too late. The chorus repeats the plea for "one last night to love you", highlighting the singer's longing to relive a moment of happiness with the one he loves.
The first verse sets up the conflict between the singer and his love interest. He admits that she was right and he was wrong, but he didn't see it at the time. She had reached her breaking point and left, leaving him alone in the darkness. The second verse continues this theme, with the singer realizing how much he took his relationship for granted. He pleads with his love interest to forgive him and come back to him, saying that he wants her close to him again.
The chorus is a plea for one last chance at happiness with the one he loves. The singer wants to be alone with her, as they were before, and relive that moment of joy together. He asks God for help in his plea, saying that he will be full of regrets if his love interest still chooses to leave.
Overall, the song is a poignant reflection on the pain of losing someone you love and the desperate desire to make things right again.
Line by Line Meaning
You were so right and I was wrong
I now realize that I made mistakes and you were right all along
And now I know where I belong
I've finally recognized that I belong to you and nobody else
You'd had enough and I didn't see
I was too blind to see that you were fed up with me
How the darkness closed in on me
I was consumed by darkness and didn't even realize it
I want you back again
Despite my faults, I want you to come back to me
Wherever you are, whatever you do
I'm leaving the decision to you and I will respect your choice
You must decide, I will leave it up to you
It's your decision to make and I won't interfere
I realize I don't have a clue
I finally admit that I have no idea what to do without you
But I go on praying that my wish will come true
Even though I'm lost without you, I'm still holding on to hope that we'll be together again
Give me one last night to love you
I'm begging for one more chance to show you how much I love you
You and I alone, happy on our own
I only want you and no one else, and I want us to be happy together once again
You had high hopes, I had no time
I was too consumed with other things to realize your high hopes for us
So I never noticed when you cried
I failed to see your pain and tears
I realize how foolish I've been
I'm ashamed by my foolishness and my blindness to your feelings
Won't you forgive me and come back again
Please forgive me and let us start over again
Lend me your voice, Lord, to pray and to plead
I'm humbly asking for help from above in my attempts to win you back
And if in the end you will go as you said
If in the end you choose to leave me, I'll accept your decision
I'll be full of regrets and I'll never forget
I'll always regret losing you and I'll never forget the love we shared
living on our own
I want us to be together, living happily on our own with nobody else interfering
Contributed by Avery H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.