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    
And' 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  
She learned it when the tune 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