David Bowie Starman - Album of the Week! Pinups (1973) Bonus Track: Port of Amsterdam (B-side of the Sorrow single; originally recorded in French by Jacques Brel, English translation by Mort Shuman) (1990 Rykodisc/EMI) Amsterdam is a song by Jacques Brel. It combines a powerful melancholic crescendo with a rich poetic account of the exploits of sailors on shore leave in Amsterdam. Brel never recorded this for a studio album, and his only version was released on the live album Enregistrement Public à lOlympia 1964. Despite this, it has been one of his most enduringly popular works. It was one of the songs Mort Shuman translated into English for the Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris musical. Brel worked on the song at his house overlooking the Mediterranean at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the house he shared with Sylvie Rivet, a publicist for Philips; a place she had introduced him to in 1960. It was the ideal place for him to create, and to indulge his passion for boats and planes. One morning at six oclock he read the words of Amsterdam to Fernand, a restaurateur who was about to set off fishing for scorpion fish and conger eels for the bouillabaisse. Overcome, Fernand broke out in sobs and cut open some sea urchins to help control his emotion. The melody shows strong similarities with the English folk song Greensleeves. Scott Walker recorded several of these translated Brel songs in the late 1960s. This inspired David Bowie to record his own versions of Amsterdam in the early 1970s. Bowies July 1973 studio version was released as the B-side to his single Sorrow in October 1973. Bowies version is also found on several other releases: It was released as picture discs in both the RCA Life Time picture disc set and the Fashion Picture Disc Set. The July 1982 German rerelease of the single Alabama Song had Amsterdam as the B-side. On the December 1982 RCA Records compilation album Rare (1973 single; B-side Sorrow) On the 1990 Rykodisc CD release of Bowies 1973 album Pinups, Port of Amsterdam was released as a bonus track (1973 single; B-side Sorrow) On the 1989 Living Legend Records Publishing CD Chameleon Chronicles Vol.3 (LLRCD 050) Amsterdam was recorded for D.L.T. (Dave Lee Travis Show) as David Bowie and Juniors Eyes 1969 October 20th; broadcast date 1969 October 26th. David Bowie and the Tony Visconti Trio (aka The Hype) recorded Amsterdam for the BBC radio show The Sunday Show introduced by John Peel on 5 February 1970 (broadcast date 8 February 1970). This performance may be heard on the 2000 Virgin Records CD Bowie at the Beeb. youtu.be/c40VXrQxQlQ Lyrics: In the port of Amsterdam Theres a sailor who sings Of the dreams that he brings From the wide open sea In the port of Amsterdam Theres a sailor who sleeps While the river bank weeps To the old willow tree In the port of Amsterdam Theres a sailor who dies Full of beer, full of cries In a drunken town fight In the port of Amsterdam Theres a sailor whos born On a hot muggy morn By the dawns early light In the port of Amsterdam Where the sailors all meet Theres a sailor who eats Only fish heads and tails And hell 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 Throw it down by my side And he wants so to belch But hes too full to try So he stands up and laughs And he zips up his fly In the port of Amsterdam You can see sailors dance Paunches bursting their pants Grinding women to porch Theyve 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 And then out of the night With their pride in their pants And the sluts that they tow Underneath the street lamps In the port of Amsterdam Theres a sailor who drinks And he drinks and he drinks And he drinks once again Hell drink to the health Of the whores of Amsterdam Whove given their bodies To a thousand other men Yeah, theyve bargained their virtue Their goodness all gone For a few dirty coins Well he just cant go on Throws his nose to the sky And he aims it up above And he pisses like I cry On the unfaithful love In the port of Amsterdam In the port of Amsterdam
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 00:43:19 +0000
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