Amsterdam Lyrics in English Jacques Brel

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Below, I translated the lyrics of the song Amsterdam by Jacques Brel from French to English.

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who sing

The dreams that haunt them

Off Amsterdam

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who sleep

Like flags

Along the gloomy banks

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who die

Full of beer and dramas

At the first light

But in the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who are born

In the thick heat

Of ocean languor

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who eat

On tablecloths too white

Dripping fish

They show you their teeth

To bite into fortune

To unhook the moon

To gobble rigging

And it smells like cod

Right to the heart of fries

That their big hands invite

To come back for more

Then they get up laughing

In a storm's roar

They close their fly

And go out belching

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who dance

Rubbing their bellies

On the bellies of women

And they spin and they dance

Like spat-out suns

In the ripped sound

Of a rancid accordion

They twist their necks

To better hear themselves laugh

Until suddenly

The accordion dies

Then the solemn gesture

Then the proud gaze

They haul back their Dutch

Right into full light

In the port of Amsterdam

There's sailors who drink

And who drink and re-drink

And who drink again

They drink to the health

Of Amsterdam wh*res

From Hamburg or elsewhere

Finally they drink to the ladies

Who give them their lovely bodies

Who give them their virtue

For a gold coin

And when they've drunk well

They stick their nose to the sky

Blow their nose in the stars

And they piss like I cry

Over unfaithful women

In the port of Amsterdam

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Lyrics © WARNER CHAPPELL MUSIC FRANCE

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SONG MEANING

Amsterdam is Jacques Brel’s whirlwind postcard from the city’s bustling harbor, where life is as salty and unpredictable as the sea itself. The Belgian-French chansonnier zooms in on rough-and-ready sailors who sing, sleep, eat, dance, and drink with an almost mythic intensity. Brel stacks vivid images on top of each other—dripping fish on blinding white tablecloths, frenzied accordion riffs, beer-soaked toasts to fleeting lovers—until the port feels alive, pungent, and larger than life.

Beneath the rowdy spectacle beats a deeper pulse: the song is really about the endless cycle of desire, excess, and vulnerability that defines the human condition. Each verse shows a different phase—birth, revelry, death—reminding us that every moment of raucous joy is shadowed by weariness and loss. Amsterdam celebrates the raw poetry of ordinary people while hinting that their wild escapades mask longing, heartbreak, and the inexorable passing of time.

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Jacques Brel Amsterdam Lyrics