Brel Jacques
Miscellaneous
Amsterdam
Words and music: Jacques Brel
(c) 1964, Éditions Pouchenel, Brussels
1 In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors singing
Dreams that haunt them
Off the coast of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors sleeping
Like banners
Along the bleak banks
In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors dying
Lots of beers and drama
At first light
But in the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors who are born
In the thick heat
Oceanic languor.
br/>2 In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors eating
On tablecloths that are too white
Dripping fish
They show you their teeth
To bite into fortune
To wan the moon,
To eat the shrouds
And it smells of cod
Right down to the heart of fries
Let their big hands invite
to come back for more
Then they get up laughing
In a noise like a storm
Close their fly
And go out burping.
3 In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors dancing
Rubbing their bellies
On the bellies of women
And they are spinning and they dance
Like spitting suns
In the torn sound
Of a rancid accordion
They twist their necks
To better to hear yourself laugh
Until suddenly
The accordion expires
Then with a serious gesture,
Then with a look proud
They bring back their Dutch
To the full light.
4 In the port of Amsterdam
There are sailors who drink
And who drink and drink again
And who drink again
They drink to health
Whores from Amsterdam
From Hamburg or elsewhere
Finally they drink to ladies
Who give them their pretty bodies
Who give them their virtue
And for a gold coin
And when they have drunk well
Step their noses in in the sky
They blow their noses into the stars
And they piss as I cry
On unfaithful women
In the port of Amsterdam,
In the port of Amsterdam.