C     D   C


[Verse 1]
    C
The Dutchman's not the kind of man
C
  Who keeps his thumb jammed in the dam
Dm
  That holds his dreams in,
G                               C               F  C
  But that's a secret that only Margaret knows.

     C
When Amsterdam is golden in the summer,
C
  Margaret brings him breakfast,
Dm
  She believes him.
G                               C
  He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow.


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


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


{Instrumental]
C


[Verse 2]
    C
The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes,
    C
His cap and coat are patched with the love
Dm
  That Margaret sewed there.
G                                   C          F  C
  Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam.

   C
He watches the tug-boats down canals
C                                     Dm
  Calls out to them when he thinks he knows the Captain.
G                                 C
  Till Margaret comes to take him home again


[Pre-Chorus]
             Dm                  G                    C             Am
Through unforgiving streets that trip him, though she holds his arm,
    Dm                    G                     F     C
Sometimes he thinks he's alone and he calls her name.


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


{Instrumental]
C


[Verse 3]
    C
The windmills whirl the winter in
C
  She winds his muffler tighter
   Dm
As 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 out,
                                   Dm
While she makes the bed up singing    some old love song,
G                                     C
  A song Margaret learned when it was very new.


[Pre-Chorus]
          Dm           G             C             Am
He hums a line or two,   they sing together in the dark.
             Dm               G                  F            C
The Dutchman falls asleep and Margaret blows the candle out.


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


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


[Outro]
         Dm         G                F   C
Now dear Margaret remembers that for me.