A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).
Amsterdam by Jacques Brel (Sung and Played by Fred Holstein)
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 an old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who dies Full of beer, full of cries, in a drunken-down fight
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who is born On a muggy, hot 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
He will show you his teeth, that have rotted too soon That can swallow the moon, that can haul up the sails
And he yells at the cook, with his arms opened wide Bring me more fish, put it down by my side
And he wants so to belch, but he’s too full to try So he gets up and laughs, and he zips up his fly
In the port of Amsterdam, you can see sailors dance Till it’s bursting their pants, grinding women to paunch
They have forgotten the tune, that their whiskey voice croaks They’re splitting the night, with the roar of their jokes
And they dance and they turn, and they laugh and they lust Till the rancid sounds, of the accordion’s burst
Then out in the night, with their pride in their pants With a slut that they tow, underneath the street lamps
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who drinks And he drinks, and he drinks, and he drinks once again
He drinks to the health, of the whores of Amsterdam Who have promised their love, to a thousand other men
And they bargain their bodies, and their virtue long gone For a few dirty coins, and when he can’t go on He plants his nose in the sky, and he wipes it up above And he pisses like I cry, for an unfaithful love In the port of Amsterdam, in the port of Amsterdam In the port of Amsterdam!
Amsterdam by Jacques Brel (Sung and Played by Fred Holstein)
ReplyDeleteIn 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 an old willow tree
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who dies
Full of beer, full of cries, in a drunken-down fight
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who is born
On a muggy, hot 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
He will show you his teeth, that have rotted too soon
That can swallow the moon, that can haul up the sails
And he yells at the cook, with his arms opened wide
Bring me more fish, put it down by my side
And he wants so to belch, but he’s too full to try
So he gets up and laughs, and he zips up his fly
In the port of Amsterdam, you can see sailors dance
Till it’s bursting their pants, grinding women to paunch
They have forgotten the tune, that their whiskey voice croaks
They’re splitting the night, with the roar of their jokes
And they dance and they turn, and they laugh and they lust
Till the rancid sounds, of the accordion’s burst
Then out in the night, with their pride in their pants
With a slut that they tow, underneath the street lamps
In the port of Amsterdam, there’s a sailor who drinks
And he drinks, and he drinks, and he drinks once again
He drinks to the health, of the whores of Amsterdam
Who have promised their love, to a thousand other men
And they bargain their bodies, and their virtue long gone
For a few dirty coins, and when he can’t go on
He plants his nose in the sky, and he wipes it up above
And he pisses like I cry, for an unfaithful love
In the port of Amsterdam, in the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam!