In the ports of Amsterdam   There's a sailor who sings   Of the dreams that he brings   From the wide open sea       In the ports of Amsterdam   There's a sailor who sleeps   While the river bank weeps   By the old willow tree       In the ports of Amsterdam   There's a sailor who dies   Full of beer, full of cries   In the drunken town fight       In the ports of Amsterdam   There's a sailor who's born   On a hot and muggy morn   By the dawn's early light       In the ports 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   Set 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 ports 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   Then out of the night       With their pride in their pants   And the sluts that they tow   Underneath the street lamps       In the ports 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 have 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       Rolls his eyes to the sky   And rolls them up above   And he pisses like I cry   On the unfaithful love       In the port of Amsterdam   In the port of Amsterdam