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.
Net als een kind
Frank boeijen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We stonden stil bij een boom
Ineens was zij verdwenen en ik zocht haar
Ze had zich verscholen in een droom
Omdat ik haar niet zag
Wou ik dat ik weer ogen had
Net als een kind
Ik liep door een straat met mijn vader
We stonden stil bij een raam
En in het duister van de kamer
Fluisterde iemand zacht zijn naam
Omdat ik niemand zag
Wou ik dat ik weer ogen had
Net als een kind
Ik zag een soldaat op een foto
In een stukgeschoten stad
En de film stopte de kogel
Die hij net geschoten had
Omdat hij niets meer zag
Wou ik dat hij weer ogen had
Net als een kind
Net als een kind
Net als een kind
Net als een kind
The lyrics in Frank Boeijen's song "Net als een kind" depict instances where the singer longs for a child's perspective to help them make sense of the world around them. In the first verse, the singer is walking through a park with their daughter and briefly loses her as she hides in a dream. This moment makes the singer wish they had the innocence and wonderment of a child's eyes again, to find joy in such simple things. In the second verse, the singer is with their father and reminisces on a moment where they were looking at a window, and the father hears his name being whispered. The singer wishes they had a child's imagination once again to imagine and make sense of the unseen world.
The final verse has a more sobering tone as the singer reflects on seeing a soldier in a war-torn city. The film appears to have stopped his bullet and the soldier is now living a life where he can no longer see. The singer wishes the soldier could also have a child's view on life, to bring back the hopefulness and innocence he may have lost in war.
Overall, the song is about longing for the return of childlike innocence and how it can offer a different perspective on the world around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Ik liep door het park met mijn dochter
I was walking in the park with my daughter
We stonden stil bij een boom
We stopped at a tree
Ineens was zij verdwenen en ik zocht haar
Suddenly she disappeared and I searched for her
Ze had zich verscholen in een droom
She had hidden herself in a dream
Omdat ik haar niet zag
Because I could not see her
Wou ik dat ik weer ogen had
I wished I had eyes again
Net als een kind
Just like a child
Ik liep door een straat met mijn vader
I was walking in a street with my father
We stonden stil bij een raam
We stopped at a window
En in het duister van de kamer
And in the darkness of the room
Fluisterde iemand zacht zijn naam
Someone whispered his name softly
Omdat ik niemand zag
Because I could not see anyone
Wou ik dat ik weer ogen had
I wished I had eyes again
Ik zag een soldaat op een foto
I saw a soldier in a photo
In een stukgeschoten stad
In a city that had been shot to pieces
En de film stopte de kogel
And the film stopped the bullet
Die hij net geschoten had
That he had just shot
Omdat hij niets meer zag
Because he could not see anything anymore
Wou ik dat hij weer ogen had
I wished he had eyes again
Net als een kind
Just like a child
Net als een kind
Just like a child
Net als een kind
Just like a child
Net als een kind
Just like a child
Contributed by Ava N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
cengiz35
Zo mooi.... Prachtig!