Standard (EADGBE)

 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 and 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

 Let us go the banks of the ocean

 Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee

 Long ago, I used to be a young man

 But dear Margaret remembers that for me

, , , x2

(Repeat):

The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes

His cap and coat are patched with the love that Margaret sewn in

Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam

He watches tugboats down canals and calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain

'Til Margaret comes to take him home again

Through the unforgiving streets that trip him though she holds his arm

Sometimes he thinks that he's alone and calls her name

Let us go the banks of the ocean

Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee

Long ago, I used to be a young man

But dear Margaret remembers that for me

Windmills whirl the winter in

She winds his muffler tighter they sit in the kitchen

Some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew

He sees her for a moment, calls her name she makes his bed up singing 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 Margaret blows the candle out

Let us go the banks of the ocean

Where the walls rise above the Zuiderzee

Long ago, I used to be a young man

But dear Margaret remembers that for me