Paul de Leeuw (born March 26, 1962 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch television come… Read Full Bio ↴Paul de Leeuw (born March 26, 1962 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor.

De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for the public broadcasting company VARA. Though satire was only a part of these shows and much of its humour was essentially harmless he came into publicity with satire about Dutch show business personalities who were often ridiculed.

Besides, many obscure musical acts were featured in his shows, many of which managed to gain national fame after they had been in De Leeuw's programme (e.g. Twarres and AIDS suffering singer Rene Klijn). VARA has since continued his shows apart from a few interruptions, often with considerable success.

In the early nineties, Paul de Leeuw also had some shows celebrating the new year. In the 1993-1994 show he ridiculed the new commercial television channel RTL 5 by announcing another new channel, "RTL 6" (RTL six, beter dan niks (at least better than nothing)). This led to a trial by the RTL company, who demanded that De Leeuw withdraw his joke.

He and his partner, Stephan Nuger, have adopted two children: son Kas (adopted in October 2001) and son Tobey (adopted in December 2002).

Paul de Leeuw has had many hit singles in The Netherlands. He is most famous for: Vlieg met me mee (#2), Ik wil niet dat je liegt / Waarheen, waarvoor (#1), and 'k Heb je lief (#3). Since the beginning of his television and singing career he released albums and singles, always becoming a big success.
In 2006, he recorded the song "Mijn Houten Hart" (My Wooden Heart) with Raffaela, which was later released as a single and peaked at #18 in the Dutch Singles Top 100, becoming one of his smallest hits.

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 incident

De Leeuw is, despite being famous for a long time in the Netherlands, best-known internationally for presenting the results of the Dutch televote in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. De Leeuw was supposed to present the televote by simply thanking the presenters, performers and fans, before giving the result but instead the openly gay De Leeuw gave his mobile number to the male presenter Sakis Rouvas live on-air, and made other comments which somewhat lengthened the Dutch results.

De Leeuw also made a reference to gay culture when he remarked that Rouvas and his female co-presenter Maria Menounos reminded him of Will & Grace. As the results were live and required for the contest to continue, De Leeuw could not be cut off until he finished giving the voting results.

De Leeuw's actions resulted in negative comments from the commentators, with the BBC's Terry Wogan calling the act "pathetic" and asking "Who selected this eejit?" during the United Kingdom coverage of the contest. Other commentators, like the Portuguese Eladio Climaco, didn't translate properly the gay remarks and said he was saying that they really look like Greeks. Parts of the dialogue were also shown on the German comedy show TV total.

The dialogue between De Leeuw and Rouvas

Rouvas: Hello Netherlands! Paul...

De Leeuw: Hello Greece, kalisperma everybody! [note that sperma means sperm in many languages, at least both in Dutch and Greek]

Rouvas: Kalispera Paul. [kalispera means 'Good evening', which was supposed to be said]

De Leeuw: You look like Will... [stops, likely due to the cheering of the crowd behind him] You look like Will & Grace, you two. So here are the votes, the Dutch votes. Let's come. [In an extremely high tempo] One, Ukreene (sic), two, Russia, Germany, three, Ireland, four, Greece, five, Lithuania, six, Finland, seven points! [resumes normal tempo]] Now the eight points. Are you ready Chaci, tzatziki, cichaci?

Rouvas: Yes, haha.

De Leeuw: Are you ready? Eight points... I like your blouse... The eight points are for Bosnia-Hoshegovina (sic). Yeah.

Rouvas: Bosnie-Herzegovine, huit points.

De Leeuw: Yes, I say. And the ten points, Zhacki, Zhicka, Chucka, are from (sic) Armenia!

Rouvas: Armenie, dix points.

De Leeuw: Ok, and Chacki, do you have my mobile number now or after twelve points?

Rouvas: Give it to me now. I bet it's 69 69 69. [In Greece, mobile numbers always begin with 69, but the rest of the 69's are a sexual innuendo, since Rouvas did not seem to like Paul's lines.]

De Leeuw: Ok, 00... [interrupted by Rouvas' remark] no no no no no... I'm not the French guy! [Probably refers that Rouvas was once interviewed for a French magazine, in which the interviewer assumed that Rouvas was gay and directed his questions accordingly.] Its 00 31 6 24 74 44 32 10 dial 1. Twelve points goes to, I'm very proud to say, Turkey! Twelve points.

Rouvas: Turquie, douze points.

Blijf Bij Mij
Paul de Leeuw Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Mijn blik dwaalt af
Ik denk aan jou
Ik heb je al zo vaak gezien
In mijn droom

Ik vraag me af
Waar ben je nou
Als jij eens wist

Wat ik je zeggen wou

Ref:
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij
Na zoveel goeds kan ik je niet meer laten gaan
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij
Een mooier lot bestaat niet
Dus vraag ik je, blijf bij mij

Je zoekt me op, keer op keer
Langzaam aan geef jij je over, meer en meer
Je blikt dwaalt af, je denkt aan mij
De buitenwereld heeft altijd gezegt dat
Wij bij elkaar horen als de zon en de maan
Maar nu jij hier bent en nu ik hier ben
Lijkt de wereld stil te staan

Ref:
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij
Na zoveel goeds kan ik je niet meer laten gaan
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij
Een mooier lot bestaat niet
Dus vraag ik je, blijf bij mij

Zijn er fraaie woorden voor, dan komen ze niet gauw
Alles wat ik zeggen wou
Ik hou van jou

Ref:
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij
Na zoveel goeds kan ik je niet meer laten gaan
Blijf bij mij
Blijf bij mij

Een mooier lot bestaat niet
Dus vraag ik je, blijf bij mij

Overall Meaning

The song "Blijf Bij Mij" by Paul de Leeuw is a heartfelt love ballad about wanting someone to stay with the singer. The lyrics express the singer's longing for the person they love, who they have seen in their dreams. The singer wonders where this person is and wishes they knew what the singer wants to tell them. The chorus is a plea for the person to stay with the singer, as they cannot let go after all the good they have shared together.

The second verse changes perspective, and it seems that the person the singer is longing for is also thinking about them. They are slowly giving themselves over to the singer, and the world around them seems to stand still as they come together. The bridge is a simple and direct expression of love, as the singer says "I love you." The chorus repeats, underlining the singer's message that a better fate could not be found than staying together.

Overall, the song is a beautiful and emotional plea for love and companionship. The music is simple and provides a lovely backdrop for the tender lyrics, emphasising the sincerity of the singer's message.

Line by Line Meaning

Mijn blik dwaalt af
I am distracted and lost in thought

Ik denk aan jou
My thoughts revolve around you

Ik heb je al zo vaak gezien
I have seen you so many times

In mijn droom
In my dreams

Ik vraag me af
I wonder

Waar ben je nou
Where are you now?

Als jij eens wist
If only you knew

Wat ik je zeggen wou
What I wanted to tell you

Blijf bij mij
Stay with me

Na zoveel goeds kan ik je niet meer laten gaan
After so much good, I can't let you go

Een mooier lot bestaat niet
There is no better fate