Dutch pop band Doe Maar (1978-1984; reunions in 1999-2000 and 2008-2022) is… Read Full Bio ↴Dutch pop band Doe Maar (1978-1984; reunions in 1999-2000 and 2008-2022) is the most popular and succesful Dutch-language pop act ever. Their musical cocktail of pop, ska, punk and reggae was uniquely (sometimes frighteningly) popular in the first half of the 1980s in The Netherlands.

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.

Macho
Doe Maar Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Omdat ik nooit een broertje had maar zussen om me heen
Die alles voor me deden was ik toch vaak alleen
Voetballen dat kon ik niet dus echte vriendjes had ik niet
Ze wonnen al m'n knikkers

Meisjes waren leuker, ze vochten nooit met mij
Ze konden uren kletsen en daar zat ik stiekem bij
Terwijl de jongens uit m'n straat uitmuntten in kattekwaad

Kreeg ik m'n eerste kusje

Macho (macho)
Stoere mannen macho (macho)
Macho (macho)
Was ik maar een vrouw
Dan breide ik met jou

'k Heb nooit kunnen wennen aan mannen met mekaar
Dronken aan de boemel en voor 'n grapje klaar
Vuile praat tot 's morgens vroeg, strompelend van kroeg tot kroeg
Wij, wij waren samen

Macho (macho)
Stoere mannen macho (macho)
Macho (macho)
Was ik maar een vrouw
Dan breide ik met jou

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamamacho

Voetballen dat kon ik niet dus echte vriendjes had ik niet
Ze wonnen al m'n knikkers

Macho (macho)
Stoere mannen macho (macho)
Macho (macho)
Was ik maar een vrouw
Dan breide ik met jou

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh
Mamamamacho (oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)

Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Doe Maar's song Macho describe the singer's experience growing up as a boy surrounded by sisters. Due to being unable to play soccer, the singer never made any true friends and was often alone. Instead, he found solace in listening to the all-female conversations of his sisters and other girls he encountered. He contrasts these experiences against that of the neighborhood boys who excelled in "naughtiness and debauchery," while he found himself experiencing his first kiss. Throughout the song, the singer expresses a longing for the camaraderie and companionship he sees in women as opposed to the toxic masculinity he observes in men. The chorus repeats the sentiment that the singer wishes he were a woman so that he could knit with his partner.

The song Macho is an exploration of gender and masculinity in the context of Dutch culture in the 1980s. While toxic masculinity is an issue in many cultures around the world, the song examines how gender dynamics operate within the Netherlands. The song also highlights the ways in which gender is constructed in society and the ways in which it can restrict individual freedom. The lyrics express a desire to break free from gender norms and expectations and to embrace more fluid definitions of gender identity. The repetition of the chorus throughout the song emphasizes this desire for liberation and self-expression.

Line by Line Meaning

Omdat ik nooit een broertje had maar zussen om me heen Die alles voor me deden was ik toch vaak alleen
I never had a brother, only surrounded by my sisters who did everything for me, but it made me feel isolated at times.

Voetballen dat kon ik niet dus echte vriendjes had ik niet Ze wonnen al m'n knikkers
I couldn't play football, so I didn't have any close male friends, and they took away all my marbles.

Meisjes waren leuker, ze vochten nooit met mij Ze konden uren kletsen en daar zat ik stiekem bij Terwijl de jongens uit m'n straat uitmuntten in kattekwaad Kreeg ik m'n eerste kusje
Girls were more fun to be around since they never fought with me, and I enjoyed listening to their conversations while boys in my neighbourhood excelled in mischief. It was with a girl that I experienced my very first kiss.

Macho (macho) Stoere mannen macho (macho) Macho (macho) Was ik maar een vrouw Dan breide ik met jou
I want to be able to be more macho like the tough men, but I wish I could do traditionally feminine activities with a female partner such as knitting.

'k Heb nooit kunnen wennen aan mannen met mekaar Dronken aan de boemel en voor 'n grapje klaar Vuile praat tot 's morgens vroeg, strompelend van kroeg tot kroeg Wij, wij waren samen
I've never been able to adjust to men bonding with each other by getting drunk and cracking dirty jokes until the morning, stumbling from bar to bar. We may have been together, but I felt disconnected from their character.

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamamacho
This line is a repetition of 'macho' and 'mamamacho,' which are simply emphasized words without particular meanings.

Macho (macho) Stoere mannen macho (macho) Macho (macho) Was ik maar een vrouw Dan breide ik met jou
Again, the desire to be more masculine is expressed, but also the longing to participate in traditionally feminine activities with a female partner.

Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh Mamamamacho (oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh) Mamamamamamamacho (oh-oh-oh)
This is a repetition of the chorus with the emphasized word 'mamamacho.' There are no additional meanings in this repetition.

Contributed by Daniel H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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