Book of Song

Dutchman, The

by Michael Peter Smith

The [C] Dutchman's not the kind of man
Who keeps his thumb jammed in the dam
[Dm] That holds his dreams in,
[G] But that's a secret that only [C] Margaret knows.

When [C] Amsterdam is golden
in the morning Margaret brings him breakfast, [Dm] She believes him.
[G] He thinks the tulips bloom [C] beneath the snow.
He's mad as [Dm] he can be, but [G] Margaret only
[C] sees that [B] some- [Am] times,
Sometimes she [F] sees her unborn [G] children in his [C] eyes.

(Chorus
Let us [Dm] go to the [G] banks of the [C] ocean [B] [Am]
Where the [F] walls rise [G] above the Zuider [C] Zee [B] [Am].
Long [Dm] ago, I [G] used to be a [C] young man [B] [Am]
And dear [F] Margaret [G] remembers that for [C] me. )

The [C] Dutchman still wears wooden shoes,
His cap and coat are patched with the love
That [Dm] Margaret sewed there.
[G] Sometimes he thinks he's still in [C] Rotterdam.

[C] He watches the tug-boats down canals
And calls out to them when he thinks he [Dm] knows the Captain.
Till [G] Margaret comes to take him [C] home again
Through un- [Dm] forgiving streets that [G] trip him,
though she [C] holds his [B] arm [Am],
Sometimes he [F] thinks he's [G] alone and he calls her [C] name.

Chorus

The [C] windmills swirl the wintering
She winds his muffler tighter
And [Dm] they sit in the kitchen.
[G] Some tea with whiskey keeps [C] away the dew.

[C] he sees her for a moment, calls her name,
She makes his bed up humming [Dm] some old love song,
[G] She learned it when the tune was [C] very new.
He hums a [Dm] line or two,
they [G] hum together [C] in the night. [B] [Am]
The Dutchman [F] falls asleep and
[G] Margaret blows the [C] candle out.

Chorus x2