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.
Vederlicht
Frank Boeijen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Een dichtgegroeid hart
Overwoekerde herinneringen
De gesloten stilte
Dat doorbreken
Open laten barsten
Toegang tot de liefde
Liederen voor Allerzielen
Een requiem voor de doelloosheid
Als een winnaar verliezen
En rijzen uit de as
Het moeras verlaten
Een opgeheven hoofd
Uitgestrooide woorden
Vreemd
Dat die herinnering
Een herinnering geworden is
Zacht
Geen pijn
De foto zegt me niets
Dat is toch vreemd
Misschien eens vragen
Aan iemand die er verstand van heeft
De gebroken as geheeld
De verbroken as hersteld
De stilte is niet meer zwaar
Maar vederlicht
Vederlicht
The lyrics in Frank Boeijen's song Vederlicht speaks about the struggle of moving on and letting go of past memories and regrets. The first few lines describe a heart that is full of overgrown memories and a silence that is closed off. However, the lyrics suggest that it is necessary to break through this barrier and open up to love without waiting. The mention of Allerzielen, which is Dutch for All Souls' Day, and a requiem for the purposelessness, can be interpreted as a symbol for finding closure and moving on from the past. The lyrics suggest that it is possible to rise from the ashes and leave the swamp behind, holding your head up high and speaking out your thoughts.
Throughout the song, the tone shifts from reflecting on the difficulty of letting go, to a more resolved and optimistic tone where the singer sees the silence becoming lighter and softer, as though it has become "feather-light" in weight. The song concludes with the singer feeling healed by "the broken axis" and "the restored axis," and the photo that used to mean nothing to them has become significant, leaving them curious about its story.
Overall, the song Vederlicht is a beautiful and introspective piece about learning to move on and finding hope in the promise of a lighter and brighter future.
Line by Line Meaning
Het zicht belemmerd
Vision restricted
Een dichtgegroeid hart
A heart overgrown
Overwoekerde herinneringen
Overgrown memories
De gesloten stilte
The closed silence
Dat doorbreken
Breaking that
Open laten barsten
Letting it burst open
Toegang tot de liefde
Access to love
Niet meer wachten
No more waiting
Liederen voor Allerzielen
Songs for All Souls Day
Een requiem voor de doelloosheid
A requiem for aimlessness
Als een winnaar verliezen
Losing like a winner
En rijzen uit de as
And rising from the ashes
Het moeras verlaten
Leaving the marsh
Een opgeheven hoofd
A raised head
Uitgestrooide woorden
Scattered words
Vreemd
Strange
Dat die herinnering
That memory
Een herinnering geworden is
Has become a memory
Zacht
Soft
Geen pijn
No pain
De foto zegt me niets
The photo tells me nothing
Dat is toch vreemd
That is still strange
Misschien eens vragen
Maybe ask someone
Aan iemand die er verstand van heeft
Who knows about it
De gebroken as geheeld
The broken axis healed
De verbroken as hersteld
The severed axis restored
De stilte is niet meer zwaar
The silence is no longer heavy
Maar vederlicht
But weightless
Contributed by Lily O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.