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The Dutchman

[ Roud - ; Michael P. Smith]

Boreen sang The Dutchman on their 1997 album Enchanted Ways. They noted:

This song was made popular by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy. It is followed by a reel composed by the late Phil Murphy, a harmonica player from County Wexford.

Denny Bartley sang The Dutchman on his 2002 album Midnight Feast.

Lyrics

Boreen sing The Dutchman

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 snow
He’s mad as he can be
But Margaret only sees that sometimes
Sometimes she sees
Her unborn children in his eyes

Chorus (after each verse):
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 that for me

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes
His cap and 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
Till Margaret comes to take him home again
Through unforgiving streets
That trip him though she holds his arms
Sometimes he thinks that he’s alone
And calls her name

The windmills swirl the winter in
She winds his muffler tighter
They sit in the kitchen
And the tea with whiskey keeps 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 very new
He hums a line or two
They hum together in the night
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margret blows the candle out