(Port of) AMSTERDAM
Written by Jacques Brel (original lyrics in French, English by David Bowie – 1972)
As performed by David Bowie
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sings
F E
Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sleeps
Dm E Am
While the river bank weeps to the old willow tree
C G E
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who dies
Am Em E
Full of beer, full of cries in a drunken town fight
F E
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who's born
Dm E Am
On a hot muggy morn by the dawn's early light
[ACOUSTIC: Am]
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam where the sailors all meet
F E
There's a sailor who eats only fish heads and tails
Am Em
And he'll show you his teeth that have rotted too soon
Dm E Am
That can haul up the sails that can swallow the moon
C G E
And he yells to the cook with his arms open wide
Am Em E
Hey, bring me more fish throw it down by my side
F E
And he wants so to belch but he's too full to try
Dm E Am
So he stands up and laughs and he zips up his fly
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam you can see sailors dance
F E
Paunches bursting their pants grinding women to porch
Am Em
They've forgotten the tune that their whiskey voice croaked
Dm E Am
Splitting the night with the roar of their jokes
C G E
And they turn and they dance and they laugh and they lust
Am Em E
Till the rancid sound of the accordion bursts
F E
And then out of the night with their pride in their pants
Dm E Am
And the sluts that they tow underneath the street lamps
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who drinks
F E
And he drinks and he drinks and he drinks once again
Am Em
He'll drink to the health of the whores of Amsterdam
Dm E Am
Who've given their bodies to a thousand other men
C G E
Yeah, they've bargained their virtue their goodness all gone
Am Em E
For a few dirty coins well he just can't go on
F E
Throws his nose to the sky and he aims it up above
Dm E Am
And he pisses like I cry on the unfaithful love
Am Em
In the port of Amsterdam, in the port of Amsterdam
[F E Am -E-Am]
