AMSTERDAM

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sleeps
While the riverbank weeps
To the old willow tree

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In the drunken town fight

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a hot muggy morn
By the dawn's early light

In the port of Amsterdam
Where the sailors all meet
There's a sailor who eats
Only fish head and tails
And he'll show you his teeth
That have rotted too soon
That can haul up the sails
That can swallow the moon
And he yells to the cook
With his arms open wide
Hey! bring me more fish
Throw it down by my side
And he once sought to belch
But he's too full to try
So he stands up and laughs
And he zips up his fly

In the port of Amsterdam
You can see the sailors dance
And they're bursting their pants
Grinding women to porch
They've forgotten the tune
That their whiskey voice croaked
Splitting the night with the
Roar of their jokes
And they turn and they dance
And they laugh and they lust
'Til the rancid sound of the
Accordion bursts and then
Out of the night
With their pride in their pants
And the sluts that they tow
Underneath the street lamps

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who drinks
And he drinks
And he drinks
And he drinks once again
He'll drink to the health
Of the whores of Amsterdam
Who've given their bodies
To a thousand other men
Yeah they bargain their virtue
Their goodness all gone
For a few dirty coins
When they just can't go on
Blows his nose to the sky
On the sea up above
And he pisses like I cry
In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam

lookhere for the French original (author: J. Brel)

Wolfgang