Maak er wat van

January 2, 2022 6:41 AM

(SLYT) For your listening pleasure the Dutch Bert and Ernie from the Dutch Sesamstraat (Sesame Street) sing Maak er wat van. The song deals with how to make something new out of things that are broken. Lyrics and translation inside. More details about the song can be found here.

Original lyrics

Mijn allermooiste prentenboek
Ligt helemaal uit elkaar
En ik kan hem niet meer plakken
Nou dan neem je toch de schaar
De schaar?
Je knipt er de mooie plaatjes uit
En die plak je op een stuk karton
Dan heb je een zelf gemaakt schilderij
Wist je dat dat echt kon?

Heel vaak gaan er dingen
Zomaar ineens kapot
Soms gewoon versleten
Of je was er niet zuinig op
Blijf niet zitten met de brokken
Blijf niet huilen van verdriet
Probeer er wat van de maken
En ondertussen zingen wij voor jou dit lied

Chorus:
Maak er wat van, maak er wat van
Als je ontevreden bent
Nou doe daar dan wat an
Maak er wat van, maak er wat van
Moet je maar eens kijken wat je allemaal niet kan!
Ik doe mee!

Chorus

Mijn mooie speelgoedauto
De opwindveer van geknapt
Nou wil die niet meer rijden
Als je dat maar snapt
Nou dan zet je hem in de garage
Garage?
Die maak je van een schoenendoos
Dan kan je er fijn naar kijken
Maar ik wil er mee spelen!
Maak je nou maar niet boos
Ik haal hem helemaal uit elkaar
Zoals ze in een echte garage doen
Dan speel ik lekker met de stukken
En misschien krijg je wel van Sinterklaas een nieuwe in je schoen

Chorus

Translation:

My most beautiful picture book
Is all fallen apart
And I can't glue it anymore
Well then you take the scissors
Scissors?
You cut out the beautiful pictures
And stick them on a piece of cardboard
Then you have a painting you made yourself
Did you know that you could really do that?

Very often things
Break down just like that
Sometimes just worn out
Or you didn't take care of it
Don't keep sitting around with the mess
Don't keep crying of sorrow
Try to make something out of it
And in the meantime we'll sing this song for you


Chorus:
Make something of it, make something of it
If you're unhappy
Well then do something about it
Make it happen, make it happen
Just look at all the things you can do!
I'm in!

Chorus

My beautiful toy car
The wind-up spring snapped
Now it won't run
Do you understand?
Then put it in the garage
Garage?
Make it out of a shoe box
Then you can look at it
But I want to play with it!
Don't get so angry
I'll take it apart
Like they do in a real garage
Then I'll play with the pieces
And maybe Sinterklaas will give you a new one in your shoe

posted by Too-Ticky (7 comments total)

Don't keep sitting around with the mess
Don't keep crying of sorrow
Try to make something out of it

Words to live by. Thanks for this post, Too-Ticky!
posted by Bella Donna at 7:09 AM on January 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Wat leuk. A hymn to bricolage / bodging . . . which you can never start too early.
posted by BobTheScientist at 7:25 AM on January 2, 2022 [3 favorites]

Upcycling for the win!

Back when I was working for the IRC in HR, one of the swag items that we sometimes ordered to give away to new employees were coffee mugs - and for a while we were having a problem with the vendor not packing them well enough, so we got about three or four broken mugs in every box. We always complained, but I started saving the broken ones aside with an eye to eventually breaking them all up further and using them in a mosaic or something. (someone threw them all away on me one day so that never happened.)

I also often save used-up jars or tubs for pantry storage, sometimes making them look all fancy with some paint or contact paper on the lids. About 20% of my pantry storage is made up of empty pasta sauce jars salvaged from our recycling.

I also have a couple of burnt-out light bulbs saved, along with the wire cages from champagne corks - some paint and fancy decorative paper and they will become little "hot air balloon" Christmas tree ornaments.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:09 AM on January 2, 2022 [4 favorites]

Well that was DELIGHTFUL.

And it's always SO cool to experience Sesame Street in a language I don't speak. Yay!

Thank you for this, Too-Ticky!
posted by kristi at 10:10 AM on January 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Geveldig! Dank u wel, Too-Ticky!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 5:25 PM on January 2, 2022 [1 favorite]

Haha. Uitstekend! Thanks Too-Ticky. Good words as Bella Donna notes. 'Maak er wat van' will be added to my go to mantras.
posted by dutchrick at 1:10 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]

Words to live by. Thanks for this post, Too-Ticky!

Word, seconded.
posted by y2karl at 7:24 AM on January 3, 2022 [1 favorite]