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.
Overspel
Doe Maar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Jouw ogen zijn mij welkom
En liever nog
Nu ik op ze let
Niet weet waar ik terecht kom
Maar voor wij erin onder gaan
Zal ik dan nu besluiten
Iets eerder nog hier weg te gaan
Alsof er niets gebeurd is
Ontvlucht ik die ik hier bemin
Alsof er niets gebeurd is
Rij ik die wereld wel weer in naar huis
Bel me niet, schrijf met niet, verwacht mij niet meer terug
Sluit de deur maar snel
Want het is overspel
Van de kou gered
Jouw armen zijn mij welkom
En zachter nog in dit vreemde bed
Waar ik met jou terecht kom
Maar voordat wij dronken zijn
Als wij dan zo besluiten
Bij zinnen nog, sluit het gordijn
En ook de wereld buiten
En als de nacht voorbij is
Ontvlucht ik die ik hier bemin
En als de nacht voorbij is
Rij ik die wereld wel weer in naar huis
Bel me niet, schrijf met niet, verwacht mij niet meer terug
Sluit de deur maar snel
Want het is overspel
Overspel, mm, over spel
Het hart is groter dan het huis
Het hart is groter dan het huis
Het hart is groter dan het huis (het hart is groter dan het huis)
Het hart is groter dan het huis (het hart is groter dan het huis)
Het hart is groter dan het huis
Het hart is groter dan het huis
The lyrics of Doe Maar's "Overspel" (Infidelity) tell the story of someone who is torn between their commitment to their current relationship and their attraction to someone else. The first verse describes how the singer is drawn to the eyes of the other person, but is conscious of not wanting to be consumed by this attraction. They make the difficult decision to leave before things go too far.
The second verse describes the physical warmth and comfort that the other person provides, but again, the singer is careful not to let themselves get too carried away. The chorus emphasizes the guilt and shame associated with infidelity - the singer acknowledges that what they are doing is wrong and makes a plea for the other person not to contact them anymore.
The final lines of the song, "the heart is bigger than the house," suggest that the love the singer feels for both people cannot be contained within the confines of their current relationship. Despite the pain and complication caused by infidelity, the singer cannot suppress their true feelings.
Overall, "Overspel" is a poignant reflection on the struggles that arise when one's heart pulls one in two different directions. The song is delivered in Doe Maar's signature reggae-influenced style, which manages to convey both the intensity of the emotions and a sense of breezy detachment.
Line by Line Meaning
Van eenzaamheid gered
I am saved from my loneliness as I see you in front of me
Jouw ogen zijn mij welkom
Your eyes welcome me and make me feel at ease
En liever nog Nu ik op ze let
Especially now that I am paying extra attention to them
Niet weet waar ik terecht kom
I am uncertain of where this will lead me
Maar voor wij erin onder gaan
Before we become lost in this
Zal ik dan nu besluiten
I have decided now
Iets eerder nog hier weg te gaan
To leave this place a little earlier than planned
Terug naar de wereld buiten
To go back to the world outside
Alsof er niets gebeurd is
As if nothing happened between us
Ontvlucht ik die ik hier bemin
I am avoiding the person I love here
Rij ik die wereld wel weer in naar huis
I will drive back to my own world and home
Bel me niet, schrijf met niet, verwacht mij niet meer terug
Don't call me, don't write to me, don't expect me to come back
Sluit de deur maar snel
Just close the door quickly
Want het is overspel
Because what we did was cheating
Van de kou gered
I am saved from the cold
Jouw armen zijn mij welkom
Your arms welcome me and give me warmth
En zachter nog in dit vreemde bed
Especially in this strange bed, where things feel even softer
Waar ik met jou terecht kom
Where I have ended up with you
Maar voordat wij dronken zijn
But before we become too intoxicated
Als wij dan zo besluiten
If we decide to do this
Bij zinnen nog, sluit het gordijn
While we're still sober, let's close the curtain
En ook de wereld buiten
And shut out the outside world
En als de nacht voorbij is
And when the night is over
Ontvlucht ik die ik hier bemin
I am escaping from the person I love here
En als de nacht voorbij is
And when the night is over
Rij ik die wereld wel weer in naar huis
I will drive back to my own world and home
Overspel, mm, over spel
Cheating, yes, cheating
Het hart is groter dan het huis
The heart is bigger than the house
Het hart is groter dan het huis
The heart is bigger than the house
Het hart is groter dan het huis (het hart is groter dan het huis)
The heart is bigger than the house (the heart is bigger than the house)
Het hart is groter dan het huis (het hart is groter dan het huis)
The heart is bigger than the house (the heart is bigger than the house)
Het hart is groter dan het huis
The heart is bigger than the house
Contributed by Ava V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
RastaSaiyaman
And for those who don't understand Dutch, here's a translation of the Lyrics.
A relief from the loneliness
I'm welcoming your eyes
They're so much sweeter
Not too sure what I got myself into
But before we go under
Should I make the decision
While I'm still sane
To walk away
Back into the outside world?
As if nothing happened
I'll run away from my lover
As if nothing happened
I'll drive away back into my own world
Back home
Don't bother calling me
Don't bother writing
Don't expect me to come back
Just close the door discretely
Because we're committing adultery
A relief from the cold
I feel so welcome in your arms
And so much softer
In this unfamiliar bed
Where we both ended up in
But before we're drunk
Shall we make the decision
While we both still have our sanity
To close the curtain
And lock ourselves away from the outside world
And when the night is over
I'll run way from my lover
And when the night is over
I'll drive away, back into my own world
Back home
Don't bother calling me
Don't bother writing
Don't expect me to come back
Just close the door discretely
Because we're committing adultery
My heart is bigger than my home
My heart is bigger than my home
Samuel van der Meij
Hoor het nu voor het eerst, mooi nummer van hun
corcovits van de veer
dan houd het op gapies top muziek ben er trots op doe maaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr dan!
corcovits van de veer
zo is het overspel!!xxx. doe maar !!1.music.2021/22. hoop dat je snel gezond word! vrient.
corcovits van de veer
ye top nummer! echt tanks doe maar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First Case
Jammer dat er bij de studio versie geen solo in zit
corcovits van de veer
ye zeker weten ! doe maar!
corcovits van de veer
zo is het en dan is het klaar en tijd om te oogsten. 2022. doe maar live.xxx.Henny stay cool vriend. je bent mij neder rasta.xxx.
corcovits van de veer
goood by verleden! 2021/22. recht gezet!. music time.