Doe Maar (the band name can be loosely translated as 'go ahead' or 'do as you say') recorded five studio albums, with the latter four hitting number one in the Dutch album charts.
Having emerged from a hippie community in the south of The Netherlands in the late 1970s, Doe Maar's self-titled 1979 début album was not much of a success. Founding member and original bass player Piet Dekker left the group. Ernst Jansz (vocals, keyboards), Jan Hendriks (guitar) and Carel Copier (drums) were briefly joined by stand-in bass player Joost Belinfante (of hippie/folk outfit CCC Inc.) before Henny Vrienten was recruited as the permanent new bass player in 1980.
The second album, Skunk, was released in the summer of 1981, preceded by the lead single Sinds 1 Dag Of 2, which didn't enter the charts until radio DJ Frits Spits had pretty much singlehandedly changed the song title into the more catchy 32 Jaar ('32 Years'). Single and album were reasonably succesful, but not more than that. At the end of the year drummer Carel Copier was replaced by René van Collem, who was 20 years of age at the time, more than a decade younger than the rest of the band.
March 1982 saw the release of the album Doris Day en andere stukken and the lead single, Doris Day, which - almost overnight - sparked off 'Doe Maar-mania', a craze unequaled for a Dutch band in their home country, including hysterical and fainting teenage girls during live performances and a brief domination of teen fashion in The Netherlands, with the fluorescent 'phosphor green' and 'lollipop pink' trade mark colours of the Skunk album and a huge market of Doe Maar memorabilia: pins, badges, sweatbands and what not.
Doe Maar were now referred to as 'the Dutch Beatles': very different music, but similar (if not worse) madness.
The Doris Day album had only just disappeared from the top of the Dutch album charts when the two-year old Skunk album hit number. The stand-alone single De Bom ('The Bomb') topped the singles charts in November 1982. Typically, the band's young fans hardly seemed to understand what an apocalyptic song it was: "Work on your future... before the bomb drops."
The band members were shocked and not seldomly frightened or depressed by their sudden popularity. They were in their mid-thirties; the hordes of teenage girls that suddenly invaded their private lives were everything but their peers. Doe Maar wrote particularly gloomy songs about topics that you would expect to appeal to 'thirty-somethings' rather than teenagers. Jansz and Vrienten, in particular, received tons of love letters from teenage girls, but also death threats from Dutch Neo-Nazis. They needed bodyguards. Meanwhile, the Dutch music press dismissed Doe Maar as a teenybopper phenomenon: the band was first sneered at and later mostly ignored by Holland's music critics.
In May 1982 the band fired its youthful drummer, René van Collem. His successor, Jan Pijnenburg, was involved in car accident shortly after he was hired. Somewhat bizarrely, the band then hired René van Collem as a stand-in for another six months of live concerts. The definitive Doe Maar line-up was now complete: Ernst Jansz (vocals, keyboards), Henny Vrienten (vocals, bass), Jan Hendriks (guitar) and Jan Pijnenburg (drums). Years later, René van Collem would express his bitterness over the fact that Pijnenburg can be seen on almost all of the band's famous group pictures and is generally regarded as the Doe Maar drummer (especially after the 1999-2000 and 2008 reunions), in spite of the fact that the drum parts on the studio albums are almost exclusively Van Collem's work. He also played the lion's share of the band's live shows.
The particularly dark 4us ('Virus') album was released in March 1983 and immediately rocketed to number one, just like its lead single Pa ('Dad'), a rather bitter song about generation gaps. 'Doe Maar-mania' was now at its peak and (during live shows) frequently out of control. The band decided to stop doing interviews, announced complete radio silence and attempted to focus on their next album, but had to conclude that there was no more inspiration. Doe Maar had burned out.
The announcement that Doe Maar was going to call it quits caused grief beyond belief amongst a generation of Dutch teenage girls. The Dutch Kindertelefoon ('Kids Phone') had to deal with countless brokenhearted young girls who phoned in, not seldomly to announce their imminent suicides.
The band did two emotional 'farewell' shows in Den Bosch's Maaspoort hall on 14 April 1984. Since then, Henny Vrienten and Ernst Jansz have pursued successful solo careers, mostly in the context of music composition for television and cinema. The band members remained friends and continued to play together on private occasions.
After more than fifteen years of absence - in which their work was rehabilitated by a new generation of music critics - Doe Maar decided to re-unite for one final album: Klaar (which means as much as 'finished' or 'done') was released in 2000. A string of sixteen reunion concerts at Rotterdam's Ahoy sports palace was announced. 175,000 tickets were sold in an eyewink, in many cases to the teenage girls of the early eighties, now thirty-somethings.
In 2007 a theatre musical about the band's music toured the Netherlands and won several important theater awards. The success of 'Doe Maar - The Musical' was followed by another reunion show, at De Kuip football stadium in Rotterdam. 50,000 tickets sold out within the hour, three more concerts were added... and also sold out in no-time. In an interview on 20 June 2008, Henny Vrienten said: "This is no longer a 'reunion'. Doe Maar is back, for real." Doe Maar still performs regularly in The Netherlands, mostly at festivals.
De kater
Doe Maar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Kunnen we niet even rustig bij een glas
Kunnen we niet even de ellende laten
Kunnen we niet zeggen dat het vroeger beter was
Zullen we niet nog een fles of twee bestellen
Zullen we niet denken aan wie op ons wacht
Zullen we onszelf niet met de waarheid kwellen
refr.:
Oh, later komt de kater
Oh, later komt de spijt
Oh, laat dus laat voor later
Want dan hebben we nog even tijd
Oe oe, oe oe oe
Oe oe
Laten we niet naar de verre toekomst kijken
Laten we niet denken aan wat voor ons ligt
Laten we voor alle moeilijkheden wijken
Laat er komen wat er komt met onze ogen dicht
refr.
Oe oe, oe oe oe
Oe oe
Solo
refr.(2x)
Oe oe, oe oe
Nog even tijd
Oe oe , oe oe
Even tijd
Oe oe , oe oe
Nog even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Nog even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Nog even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Even tijd
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later komt de kater
The song "De kater" by Doe Maar talks about the urge to hold onto the past and avoid the responsibilities that lie ahead. The lyrics ask the question, "Can't we talk about the past, can't we take a break with a drink, can't we forget our troubles and say that things were better before?" These questions are reflective of a desire to escape from looming responsibilities and difficulties in the present and future. The song depicts the sense of indulgence and a hedonistic attitude towards life, symbolized by the invitation to order another drink and drink until dawn. The song's chorus suggests that there will be a price to pay for living in the moment, and the "kater" (hangover) and "spijt" (regret) will come later. The plea to "let later be later" is a call for a reprieve from facing the challenges of reality.
The song's sound and lyrics are representative of the New Wave movement in the Netherlands during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Doe Maar was one of the most popular bands of this era and was known for their combination of reggae, punk, and pop influences. The lyrics to "De Kater" are by Ernst Jansz, who was one of the founding members and keyboardist for the band. The song's arrangement features a driving bassline, guitar riffs, and a catchy chorus with a sing-along quality.
Line by Line Meaning
Kunnen we niet even over vroeger praten
Can't we briefly talk about the past, reminisce?
Kunnen we niet even rustig bij een glas
Can't we just calmly sit with a drink?
Kunnen we niet even de ellende laten
Can't we momentarily forget our troubles?
Kunnen we niet zeggen dat het vroeger beter was
Can't we agree that things were better in the past?
Zullen we niet nog een fles of twee bestellen
Shall we order another bottle or two?
Zullen we niet denken aan wie op ons wacht
Shouldn't we avoid thinking about who's waiting for us?
Zullen we onszelf niet met de waarheid kwellen
Should we torment ourselves with the truth?
Zullen we niet drinken tot het einde van de nacht
Shall we not drink until the end of the night?
refr.:
Refrain:
Oh, later komt de kater
Oh, later we'll feel the hangover
Oh, later komt de spijt
Oh, later we'll feel regret
Oh, laat dus laat voor later
So, let's leave things for later
Want dan hebben we nog even tijd
Because then we still have some time
Laten we niet naar de verre toekomst kijken
Let's not worry about the distant future
Laten we niet denken aan wat voor ons ligt
Let's not think about what lies ahead
Laten we voor alle moeilijkheden wijken
Let's avoid all difficulties
Laat er komen wat er komt met onze ogen dicht
Let's just blindly accept whatever comes
Solo
Instrumental Solo
refr.(2x)
Refrain (twice):
Oe oe, oe oe oe
Vocalization
Nog even tijd
Still some time left
Even tijd
Just a bit of time
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Even tijd
Just a bit of time
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Nog even tijd
Still some time left
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Even tijd
Just a bit of time
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Nog even tijd
Still some time left
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Even tijd
Just a bit of time
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Even tijd
Just a bit of time
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Later, later komt de kater
Later, later we'll feel the hangover
Contributed by Ryan S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Marcel Versteeg
In die tijd een ongelooflijke come-back van Doe Maar voor iedereen die in the late Sixtees geboren is! In onze tienertijd was 32 jaar (Ze is van mij) een grote hit...
patrick
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