Rod McKuen -- In the Port of Amsterdam

Rod McKuen

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 river bank weeps
To the old willow tree

In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a 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 heads 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 wants so 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 sailors dance
Paunches 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
Till 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've bargained their virtue
Their goodness all gone
For a few dirty coins
Well he just can't go on
Throws his nose to the sky
And he aims it up above
And he pisses like I cry
On the unfaithful love

In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam
God damn Amsterdam

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mod
• McKuen
• amsterdam

[loveyoutodeathbut]

Rod McKuen is a welcome addition to You Tube. Sorry I didn't find him here earlier. Thanks so much for posting, surprised you're taking so much heat on those lyrics!

[NotSoOldHippy]

"Rod McKuen is a welcome addition to You Tube. Sorry I didn't find him here earlier. Thanks so much for posting, surprised you're taking so much heat on those lyrics!"

LOL! Yeah, I have a pile of McKien songs in MP3 format, different versions -- I think he changed words from other people's versions and from his own versions routinely just so that they didn't become stale. }:-}

[moe17moe]

Great version, but ehm...I wanted to sing along with a cool beer at hand , but the lyrics you printed are completely different!

There goes my one-man-karaoke-(kinda)-drunk-­beerfest-show...anyway cheers.

[NotSoOldHippy]

"the lyrics you printed are completely different"

Yeah, darn it but McKuen used different words for a lot of it. Soe day I need to fix the lyrics that I posted so that they match. LOL!

But of course even if the words don't match, a beer still works! }:-}

[eczamurai]

this version is different from the one ive got on CD, btw those lyrics you posted at the describtion OWN! did you make them up yourself?

cheers! great music!

[NotSoOldHippy]

"btw those lyrics you posted at the describtion OWN! did you make them up yourself"

Rod McKuen didn't create the song himself, but when he sings it he uses slightly different words than anybody else. The words I retrieved was from David Bowie's version which is different than Rod's or Jacques'. Saruman38 mentioned this about 2 weeks ago in the previous comment. }:-}

[CuriosusSum]

I have always loved this song, as performed by Rod McKuen. And now, I may add with some pride, I am actually working in ... the Port of Amstedam!

[rufngo]

oh oh oh Rod wrote them all....... listen and learn

[jwpretd]

With regard to the lyrics, McKuen translated many Brel songs and they were apparently close friends. I doubt any changes McKuen made were ones Brel would have disapproved of. Also, Brel's own versions of this aren't consistent. I suspect that he wrote many verses and versions, and then selected different ones at different times to fit his mood, provide variety, etc.

[melodiantime]

GREAT VERSION WITH TRUE AROUSING SPIRIT OF THE ORIGINAL.

[TheTownwatch1]

EXCELLENT, BOWIE VERSION GOOD, BUT NOTHING LIKE THIS, GREAT VIDEO TO GO WITH THE SONG

[jkoncz]

okay sorry! I still sound like Rod

[MyNameIsSissy]

This song was written by the great Belgian Singer/Songwriter JACQUES BREL. The original is in French. This is McKuen's English translation.

[irishdiver1]

shite

[casualvestguys]

Not Rods song. Jacques Brel.

[jkoncz]

I sound allot like him but don't have the talent to compose such great songs. This is my favorite song from Rod even better then Jean..