Music Video
Music Video
Credits
PERFORMING ARTISTS
David Bowie
Vocals
COMPOSITION & LYRICS
Jacques Brel
Composer
PRODUCTION & ENGINEERING
David Bowie
Producer
Ken Scott
Producer
Lyrics
[Verse 1]
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings
From the wide open sea
[Verse 2]
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who sleeps
While the riverbank weeps
To the old willow tree
[Verse 3]
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries
In a drunken town fight
[Verse 4]
In the port of Amsterdam
There's a sailor who's born
On a hot muggy morn
By the dawn's early light
[Verse 5]
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
[Verse 6]
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
[Verse 7]
In the port of Amsterdam you can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants, grinding women to porridge
They've forgotten the tune that their whiskey voice croaked
Splitting the night with the roar of their jokes
[Verse 8]
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 and their pants
And the sluts that they tow underneath the street lamps
[Verse 9]
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
[Verse 10]
Yeah, they've bargained their virtue, their goodness all gone
For a few dirty coins when he just can't go on
Throws his nose to the sky, aims it up above
And he pisses like I cry on the unfaithful love
[Verse 11]
In the port of Amsterdam, in the port of Amsterdam
Written by: Jacques Brel