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.
Niet Van Hier
Frank Boeijen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Waar niemand komt
Staan ze te zwaaien
Waar niemand stopt
Ergens in Duitsland
In een stad die niemand kende
Totdat het op tv kwam
Staat een uitgebrand huis
Ergens in het zuiden
Achter de tralies
In de kelder stierf een man
Hij was niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Door alle tijden
Hier in dit land
Zijn wij gekomen
En zochten ons heil
Wij waren niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Niet van hier
Wij waren niet van hier
Niet van hier
The lyrics of Frank Boeijen's song "Niet Van Hier" explore the theme of displacement and not belonging. The song opens with a powerful image of someone standing in a desolate place, waving at nobody, where nobody stops. This sets the tone for the song, which meditates on feeling lost and forgotten. The lyrics reference a burnt down house in an unknown German city that nobody knew until it appeared on TV, highlighting the transient nature of life and the ease with which we can disappear.
The song then shifts perspectives, as it describes a man who died in a prison cell in the south of the Netherlands. The use of the word "hier" ("here") is significant in this context since it implies that the man did not belong in that place, that he wasn't originally from there. The repetition of the phrase "Niet van hier" ("Not from here") reinforces this sense of not belonging, and this is echoed in the chorus, where the singer repeats the phrase several times. The chorus also expands the feeling of displacement to a wider population: "We were not from here." While the lyrics don't specify who "we" refers to, it can be interpreted as a reference to anyone who has ever felt like they don't belong, who feels like they are outsiders in their own lives.
Line by Line Meaning
Ergens langs de snelweg
Somewhere along the highway, in an isolated and obscure spot.
Waar niemand komt
Where no one goes, thus abandoned and isolated.
Staan ze te zwaaien
There are people waving, trying to catch someone's attention and get noticed.
Waar niemand stopt
Where nobody stops, as the place holds no value or interest.
Ergens in Duitsland
Somewhere in Germany, away from the artist's familiar surroundings.
In een stad die niemand kende
In a city or town that no one knew or recognized, showing the extent of the alienation the singer feels.
Totdat het op tv kwam
Until the news about the place was televised, indicating that it has only become recognizable and valuable to the public through the media.
Staat een uitgebrand huis
An extensively burned down house stands there, as a symbol of destruction and turmoil.
Ergens in Nederland
Somewhere in the Netherlands, another place where the artist is not from.
Ergens in het zuiden
Somewhere in the southern part of the Netherlands, a region that feels as distant to the artist as a foreign country.
Achter de tralies
Behind bars, emphasizing a sense of isolation and confinement.
In de kelder stierf een man
A man died in the basement, suggesting a dark and tragic history attached to that place.
Hij was niet van hier
He was not from here, further highlighting the theme of being an outsider and feeling disconnected.
Niet van hier
Not from here, echoing the same sentiment of being an alien or foreigner.
Door alle tijden
Throughout all times, emphasizing the notion that the feeling of not belonging is universal and timeless.
Hier in dit land
Here in this country, which is not the artist's original homeland.
Zijn wij gekomen
We have come here, meaning that the artist and other aliens have migrated to this country.
En zochten ons heil
And sought our fortune or safety, indicating that the migration was not just a whim, but a necessity caused by adverse circumstances.
Wij waren niet van hier
We were not from here, reiterating the theme of estrangement and the status of being a foreigner.
Niet van hier
Not from here, a repeated phrase that punctuates the sense of isolation and cultural disconnection.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: FRANCISCUS J. M. FRANK BOEIJEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind