The dutchman's not the kind of man To keep his thumb jammed in the dam that holds his dreams in But that's a secret only Margaret knows When Amsterdam is golden In the morning Margaret brings him breakfast, she believes him He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow He's mad as he can be, but Margaret only sees that sometimes Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes
Chorus: Let us go to the banks of the ocean Where the walls rise above the Zider Zee Long ago, I used to be a young man And dear Margaret remembers that for me
The dutchman still wears wooden shoes His cap and coat are patched with love that Margaret sewed in Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam He watches tugboats down canals And calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain 'Till Margaret comes to take him home again Through unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm Sometimes he thinks that he's alone and calls her name
The windmills swirl the winter in As she winds his muffler tighter, they sit in the kitchen And the tea with whiskey keeps away the dew He sees her for a moment Calls her name, she makes his bed up, humming some old love song She learned it when the tune was very new He hums a line or two, they hum together in the night The dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out