1. Fr… Read Full Bio ↴Two musicians from The Netherlands are known as Frank Boeijen:
1. Frank Boeijen is a Dutch singer/songwriter, who was the front man of popular (and eponymous) pop group De Frank Boeijen Groep from 1980 until 1991, the year he went solo. As leader of De Frank Boeijen Groep, Boeijen was one of the pioneers of Nederpop; along with the likes of Doe Maar en Het Goede Doel. After the peak of Nederpop passed, Boeijen broke new ground by touring theatres with his band and bringing pop music to new auditoriums and audiences. As a solo artist, he has kept to this theatre based approach of his music and maintained a productive pace.
Frank Boeijen was born in Nijmegen, The Netherlands on November 27, 1957, as the last in a family of ten children. His father was a typesetter in a factory. His older brothers were into American pop music; in the Boeijen household, Bob Dylan and Neil Young were often to be found on the record player (years later, Boeijen would write a song about this, appropriately titled Robbert Zimmerman). Young Frank learned to play the guitar. After finishing high school, Boeijen started a musical collaboration with guitarist Wout Pennings. Boeijen en Pennings released an album together in 1977. The songs of the album were re-recorded and the album was re-released a year later, with Rob de Nijs acting as producer. It was appropriately titled Boeijen en Pennings. To fulfil live engagements, drummer Henk Wanders en bass player Nels Busch joined the duo.
Pennings left the band in 1979 and was replaced with guitar player Wil Theunissen. The name was changed into the Frank Boeijen Groep. The b-side of their fist single, a song entitled Verjaardagsfeest was picked on up by radio disc jockey Frits Spits, who played the record a lot during his evening show. The group released their debut album, simply entitled Frank Boeijen Groep, album later that year. On the base of the airplay of Verjaardagsfeest, the album reached the Tipparade.
Nederpop, pop music with Dutch vocals, was becoming a mainstream success in the early eighties, and the Frank Boeijen Groep hitched a wagon to that train, when their single Linda, reached the Top Forty. Zwart Wit, another single, written after a racial murder had taken place in Amsterdam, became a number one hit. 1982's Twee and 1983's 1001 Hotel became big sellers.
In 1984, the Frank Boeijen Groep was awarded the Zilveren Harp by Conamus. In that same year, album Kontakt was released. Lead guitarist Wil Theunissen quit the group later that year and replaced with Maarten Peters, who himself was replaced two years later by Ger Hoeijmakers. In 1985, the group released Foto Van Een Mooie Dag. Single Kronenburg Park -- named after Kronenburger Park a park in Nijmegen, Boeijen's place of birth and residence -- became a huge success. Follow up, In Nature, released in 1986, didn't do as well, but still sold respectively.
Towards the end of the eighties, Boeijen's music fell somewhere in between het levenslied of André Hazes, the chansons of Ramses Shaffy and the pop of Doe Maar. According to Frank Boeijen and his manager Paul Schouwenaars the group had outgrown clubs and tents. With the release of album Welkom In Utopia in 1987, the group decided to tour Dutch theatres. The Welkom In Utopia tour started in the Stadsschouwburg in Amsterdam in September of the same year. Two more albums were released: studio album Een Zomer Aan Het Eind Van De Twintigste Eeuw (1989) and live album Hier Komt De Storm. During these years, Frank Boeijen dated Sky Channel presenter Amanda Redington. The two would marry in 1990. The album Dans In Slow Motion, released in 1988, was written for her. In juni 1994 scheidden ze weer van elkaar.
In the spring of 1991, Boeijen announced the ending of his group. In November of that year, he released his first solo album Wilde Bloemen. The musicians on the album were drummer Norman Bonink, guitar player Peter van Benthem and bass player Michel van Schie. Van Schie was replaced by touring bass player René te Voortwis, and pianist Ton Snijders was also recorded. Wilde Bloemen featured several duets with other well known Dutch musicians, among them were: Twee Gezichten, a song written and recorded with Henk Hofstede of The Nits); and Het IJs, written and recorded with Henny Vrienten of Doe Maar).
In the summer of 1993, Boeijen recorded Jazz in Barcelona; an album concerned with the break up between him and Amanda Redington. The subsequent theatre tour was a big success, with sold out shows every evening. Traces of Boeijen's break up were also to be found on next album De Ontmoeting (1994 - an even more spare and intimate affair than Jazz In Barcelona. De Ontmoeting also featured a single, Twee Mannen Zo Stil, with music and lyrics by Boeijen and Stef Bos. Although the single failed to mount the charts, over the years it became a Nederpop classic, often played at funerals. In the same year, Boeijen produced an album for Liesbeth List, the female voice of Ramses Shaffy's recordings. In 1995, another live album, Stormvogels, hit the shelves.
Boeijen returned with two new albums in 1997: a greatest hits compilation, Het Beste En Het Mooiste and an album of new material, Vaderland. The year before, Boeijen had travelled extensively through Asia, and a lot of the songs, although concerning Boeijen and The Netherlands, were written from a distant perspective. In 1999, De Ballade van de Dromedaris, recorded in Peter Gabriel's Real World Studio's appeared, followed by live album Door De Jaren Heen, containing several duets with Ramses Shaffy, Liesbeth List and Stef Bos. Both albums were big sellers. In 2001, Heden, was released. Drummer Norman Bonink left the group to join BLØF. He seat was filled by Oscar Kraal. Helder contained a collaboration between Boeijen and BLØF front man Paskal Jakobsen, single Geen Gevaar. The song was released in the summer of 2002. In the same year, Boeijen won an Edison award as best singer.
2. Frank Boeijen is also the name of the keyboardist for the Dutch group The Gathering.
De beloning
Frank Boeijen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Voordat de avond valt
Ik heb honger en word dronken
In een onbekende stad
Dit café is dag en nacht open
Dat zegt naast mij een vrouw
Het verhaal van haar leven
Ze lijkt op jou
En hier spreekt de duivel van de drank
Neem haar mee naar het beloofde land
Huur een kamer met bloemen op het behang
Don Quichot wordt Don Juan
Don Quichot wordt Don Juan
Ik stel voor te gaan eten
Hier ergens in Gent
We lopen over de kasseien
Laat mij vergeten wie ik ben
Over de stad hangt die donkere stilte
Die misschien wel bij ons past
En aan tafel zingt een zanger
Over een herinnering
Een herinnering
Later wordt er een open deur ingetrapt
De hotelkamer met bloemen op het behang
De beloning voor een wanhopige man
Don Quichot wordt Don Juan
Don Quichot wordt Don Juan
De beloning voor een wanhopige man
Is dit de beloning
Voor een wanhopige man
The lyrics of Frank Boeijen's song De beloning describe a man wandering through an unknown city, experiencing the rawness that comes with hunger and intoxication. He finds solace in a café that is open day and night, where he meets a woman who reminds him of himself. The woman tells him her life story, which seems to mirror his own experiences. In this moment, the devil of alcohol speaks to him, urging him to take her to the promised land, to rent a room with flowers on the walls. The singer transforms from Don Quixote, the idealistic hero, to Don Juan, the seductive lover.
As the night continues, they wander through the streets of Gent and let themselves be lost in the darkness of the city. They come across a singer at a restaurant, who sings of a memory, perhaps reflecting their own experiences. The lyrics suggest that they eventually end up in a hotel room together, surrounded by flowers on the walls, suggesting the temptation and seduction of the devil's influence.
The song is a metaphor for the temptations and risks that come with trying to escape oneself and the search for fulfillment outside oneself. It suggests that these experiences often lead to temporary pleasure but ultimately a sense of emptiness and desperation.
Line by Line Meaning
Op straat blaffen honden
The sound of dogs barking on the street
Voordat de avond valt
Before the evening falls
Ik heb honger en word dronken
I am hungry and becoming drunk
In een onbekende stad
In an unfamiliar city
Dit café is dag en nacht open
This café is open day and night
Dat zegt naast mij een vrouw
A woman next to me says so
Het verhaal van haar leven
The story of her life
Lijkt op dat van jou
It seems similar to yours
Ze lijkt op jou
She looks like you
En hier spreekt de duivel van de drank
And here speaks the devil of the drinks
Neem haar mee naar het beloofde land
Take her with you to the promised land
Huur een kamer met bloemen op het behang
Rent a room with flowers on the wallpaper
Don Quichot wordt Don Juan
Don Quixote becomes Don Juan
Ik stel voor te gaan eten
I suggest going to eat
Hier ergens in Gent
Somewhere here in Ghent
We lopen over de kasseien
We walk over the cobblestones
Laat mij vergeten wie ik ben
Let me forget who I am
Over de stad hangt die donkere stilte
That dark silence hangs over the city
Die misschien wel bij ons past
Which perhaps suits us
En aan tafel zingt een zanger
And at the table a singer sings
Over een herinnering
About a memory
Later wordt er een open deur ingetrapt
Later, an open door is kicked in
De hotelkamer met bloemen op het behang
The hotel room with flowers on the wallpaper
De beloning voor een wanhopige man
The reward for a desperate man
Is dit de beloning
Is this the reward
Voor een wanhopige man
For a desperate man
Contributed by Callie C. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Jeroen Vuyk
Mooi nummer uit mijn kindertijd toen ik naar Top Pop keek.Frank Boeijen is een geweldige Nederlandse artiest.
Ina de Frankrijker
Blijft een mooi nummer.
George Cohen
What wow U waiten? Lijkt wel un sort fan long term memory potverdory waar sein Al die mensen die nogal iets te vertellenhebbun? 😂😮🙏✌️💯