Tom Russell The Dutchman
The Dutchman's not the kind of man
To keep his thumb jambed in a dam that holds his dreams
In but that's a secret only Margaret knows
When Amsterdam was gold and 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 a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me
The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes his coat and cap
Are patched with love that Margaret sowed 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 til' Margaret comes
To take him home again
Down unforgiving streets that trip him though he holds
Her hand sometimes he thinks he's alone and calls her
Name
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me
The windmills whourl the winter in she winds his
Muffler tighter they sit in the kitchen some tea with
whisky keeps away the dew he sees her for a moment
Calls her name out humming some old love song
They learned it when the tune was very new
They hum a line or two they hum together in the night
The Dutchman falls asleep Margaret blows the candle out
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me
