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 [bad word] 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 [bad word] 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'll drink to the health of the whores of Amsterdam
Who've given their bodies to a thousand other men

Yeah, they've bargained their virtue, their goodness all gone
For a few dirty coins, well, he just can't go on
Throws his nose to the sky and he aims it up above
And he [bad word] like I cry on the unfaithful love

In the port of Amsterdam
In the port of Amsterdam

SONGWRITERS
JACQUES BREL;ROD MCKUEN