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The Dutchman Lyrics

Artist: John McDermott
Album: Old Friends

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 snows
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 Zuiderzee
Long ago I used to be a young man
And dear Margaret remembers for me.

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes
His cap and his coat are patched with love
That Margaret sewed in
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam

He watches tug boats down canals
And calls out to them
When he thinks he knows the captain
Til Margaret comes to take him home again
Through unforgiving streets
A tripping though she holds his arm.
Sometimes he thinks that he's alone
And calls her name

(Chorus)

The windmills swirl. The winter air
She winds his muffler tighter
They sit in the kitchen
And the tea with wiskey keep 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 vey new
He hums a line or two, they hum together in the night
The Dutchman falls asleep
And Margaret blows the candle out.

Comments/Interpretations

by Tim Keenan on 3/20/2009 2:33pm
The song is by Michael Peter Smith, and there are several errors in these lyrics--I don't know if they are McDermott's errors, or if they are the transcribers errors.
"Through unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm"
"The windmills whirl the winter in"
"Some tea with Whiskey keeps away the dew"