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.
Boerenlul
Paul de Leeuw Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Je wist nog niet hoe levens kunnen gaan
Dat alles kwijt kan raken
Dat tijd is om te maken
En niet om zomaar naast te blijven staan
Je bleef maar op je zekerheden wachten
Ooit zou je wel beseffen waar 't om ging
Je had nog heel veel jaren
Zonder 't bot te snappen
Dat je telkens ving
Het kost veel moed om "ja" te kunnen zeggen
En vierkant "nee" kost ook een heleboel
Hoe kun je iets beslissen
Als je eigenlijk niets wilt missen
Hoe volg je je verstand en je gevoel
Maar als je 't nou maar 1 keer op kon brengen
Om uit te komen voor je onbenul
En zonder al dat jokken
Op eerlijkheid zou gokken
En zeggen zou: ik was een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Dat zou wel een heleboel veranderen
Dan was ik al m'n gram in 1 klap kwijt
Maar 'k kan wel blijven dromen
Dat zal er nooit van komen
Want jij hebt geen talent voor openheid
Want jij wilt graag een goede indruk maken
Vol zelfrechtvaardiging
Vol flauwekul
Gezichtsverlies bestaat niet
Het leien dakje gaat niet
En zo blijf jij voor altijd toch een lul
Het kost veel moed om "ja" te kunnen zeggen
En vierkant "nee" kost ook een heleboel
Hoe kun je iets beslissen
Als je eigenlijk niets wilt missen
Hoe volg je je verstand en je gevoel
Maar als je 't nou maar 1 keer op kon brengen
Om uit te komen voor je onbenul
En zonder al dat jokken
Op eerlijkheid zou gokken
En zeggen zou: ik was een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
Ik ben een boerenlul
The lyrics of Paul de Leeuw's song "Boerenlul" are about the struggle to embrace honesty and authenticity. The singer reflects on how life can throw unexpected challenges and hardships, causing one to lose everything they once relied on. Despite this reality, the singer has always clung to their certainties, believing that they would eventually figure out what was truly important in life. But in clinging to their certainty, they have been unable to confront their own ignorance and have refused to embrace vulnerability.
The chorus of the song highlights the bravery required to be honest, to say "yes" or "no" with conviction, to follow one's heart and mind, and to admit when one is wrong. Rather than continuing to hide behind falsehoods and pretense, the singer dreams of being able to embrace honesty, no matter the cost. Unfortunately, the singer realizes that they lack the courage to truly be honest about themselves and their past, with the past continuing to haunt them.
Overall, "Boerenlul" is a song about the importance of honesty and authenticity in a world that often values appearance over reality. The singer is struggling with their own inability to reconcile with their past mistakes, but realizes that embracing vulnerability and authenticity is the only way to truly move forward.
Line by Line Meaning
Je wist nog niet hoe dingen kunnen lopen
You were unaware of how things could turn out
Je wist nog niet hoe levens kunnen gaan
You were unaware of how lives can unfold
Dat alles kwijt kan raken
That everything can be lost
Dat tijd is om te maken
That time is for creating
En niet om zomaar naast te blijven staan
And not for standing idly by
Je bleef maar op je zekerheden wachten
You kept waiting for your certainties
Ooit zou je wel beseffen waar 't om ging
You thought you would eventually realize what was important
Je had nog heel veel jaren
You still had a lot of years
Om de chaos op te klaren
To clear up the chaos
Zonder 't bot te snappen
Without realizing your own stubbornness
Dat je telkens ving
That you kept getting caught in it
Het kost veel moed om "ja" te kunnen zeggen
It takes a lot of courage to say "yes"
En vierkant "nee" kost ook een heleboel
And saying a firm "no" also requires a lot
Hoe kun je iets beslissen
How can you make a decision
Als je eigenlijk niets wilt missen
If you don't want to miss out on anything
Hoe volg je je verstand en je gevoel
How do you follow your mind and your heart
Maar als je 't nou maar 1 keer op kon brengen
But if you could muster it just once
Om uit te komen voor je onbenul
To admit to your own ignorance
En zonder al dat jokken
And without all the lying
Op eerlijkheid zou gokken
Take a chance on honesty
En zeggen zou: ik was een boerenlul
And say: I was an ignorant fool
Ik ben een boerenlul
I am an ignorant fool
Dat zou wel een heleboel veranderen
That would change a lot of things
Dan was ik al m'n gram in 1 klap kwijt
Then I would lose all my anger in one fell swoop
Maar 'k kan wel blijven dromen
But I can keep dreaming
Dat zal er nooit van komen
It will never come to pass
Want jij hebt geen talent voor openheid
Because you have no talent for honesty
Want jij wilt graag een goede indruk maken
Because you want to make a good impression
Vol zelfrechtvaardiging
Full of self-justification
Vol flauwekul
Full of nonsense
Gezichtsverlies bestaat niet
Loss of face does not exist
Het leien dakje gaat niet
Things don't always go smoothly
En zo blijf jij voor altijd toch een lul
And so you will always be an ignorant fool
Contributed by Addison V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.