Amsterdam [Bowie at the Beeb] David Bowie

In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who sings
Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea
In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who sleeps
While the river bank weeps to the old willow tree

In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries in a drunken town fight
In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who's born
On a hot muggy morn by the dawn's early light

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

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

In the port of Amsterdam, you can see sailors dance
Paunches bursting their pants, grinding women to porch
They've forgotten the tune that their whiskey voice croaked
Splitting the night with the roar of their jokes
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 in their pants
And the sluts that they tow underneath the street lamps