The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3230 Message #3628080
Posted By: BrooklynJay
24-May-14 - 08:28 PM
Thread Name: Lyr/Chords Req: Port of Amsterdam
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Port of Amsterdam
In the second post in this thread, there are a number of errors in the lyrics (from the original Off-Broadway production of Jacques Brel is Alive and Well...).
It should be:
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 down fight
And in the port of Amsterdam There's a sailor who's born On a muggy, hot 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 heads and tails He'll show you his teeth That have rotted too soon That can swallow the moon That can haul up the sails
And he yells to the cook With his arms open wide Bring me more fish Put it down by my side Then he wants so to belch But he's too full to try So he gets up and laughs And he zips up his fly
In the port of Amsterdam You can see sailors dance Paunches bursting their pants Grinding woman to paunch They've forgotten the tune That their whiskey voice croaks 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 Then, out into the night With their pride in their pants And the slut 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 drinks to the health Of the whores of Amsterdam Who've promised their love To a thousand other men
They've bargained their bodies And their virtue long gone For a few dirty coins And when he can't go on He plants his nose in the sky Wipes it up above And he pisses like I cry For an unfaithful love In the port of Amsterdam In the port of Amsterdam
I've known that show inside and out for 45 years, and even worked on a production back in 1982. I'm pretty sure this is accurate.