Steve Goodman The Dutchman
The Dutchman's not the kind of man
Who keeps his thumb jammed in the dam
That holds his dreams in,
But that's a secret that only Margaret knows
When Amsterdam is golden in the summer,
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
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuider 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 the love
That Margaret sewed there
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam
And he watches the tug-boats down canals
An' 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 he's alone and he calls her name
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee
Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me
The winters whirl the windmills 'round
She winds his muffler tighter
And they sit in the kitchen
Some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew
And he sees her for a moment, calls her name,
She makes the bed up singing some old love song,
A song Margaret learned
When it was very new
He hums a line or two, they sing together in the dark
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows
the candle out
Let us go to the banks of the
ocean
Where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee
Long ago, I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers that for me.
