Verse 1:   
   
C                                    
The Dutchman's not the kind of man   
                                        
To keep his thumb jammed in the dam   
Dm   
That holds his dreams in,   
G                             C                 
But that's a secret that only Margaret knows.   
C            
When Amsterdam is golden in the summer,   
            
Margaret brings him breakfast,   
Dm   
She believes him.   
G                           C   
He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow.   

            F              G             C         C B   Am   
He's mad as he can be, but Margaret only sees that sometimes,   
              F               G               C   
Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes.   


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

Verse 2   
   
C   
The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes;   
   
His cap and coat are patched with the love   
Dm   
That Margaret sewed there.   
G                                 C   
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam.   
          C   
He watches tug-boats down canals,   
                                        Dm   
Calls out to them when he thinks he knows the captain,   
     G                                              C  
Till Margaret comes to take him home again,  
                       Dm                        G               C C        C B       Am A   
Through unforgiving streets that trip him, though she holds his arm.   
             F                              G                               C   
Sometimes he thinks he's alone and he calls her name.   
   
 Chorus   
   
 Verse 3   
   
C   
The winter whirls the windmills 'round;   
   
She winds his muffler tighter   
         Dm   
And they sit in the kitchen.   
G                                    C   
Some tea with whiskey keeps away the dew.   
C   
He sees her for a moment, calls her name,   
                             Dm   
She makes the bed up singing some old love song,   
      G                                                      C  
A song Margaret learned when it was very new.  
                  Dm                     G                  C C     C B    Am     
He hums a line or two, they sing together in      the    dark.   
             F                G              C      
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out.   
    
Chorus