THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Port of Amsterdam.

 

In the Port of Amsterdam where the sailors all meet

I haven’t done a Throwback Thursday (or a Wacky Wednesday for that matter), for as long as I can remember, but this old favorite song popped into mob head during my afternoon walk yesterday.

No, I was in Santa Fe, not Amsterdam, and I didn’t see any drunken sailors eating fish heads and tails, nor any whores bargaining their virtue. But something got Jacque Brel’s "Amsterdam," aka "Port of Amsterdam" in my head. So now I’ve got to get it out.

My very first interview as a not-yet-professional journalist was with folksinger supreme Dave Van Ronk back in 1980 (as I’ve described in my Substack and elsewhere). One specific song that I’d been excited to ask him about, was his 1971 recording of this song. Back when I was in college, the KUNM folk show (this was even before The Home of Happy Feet) played the tune just about every week. And s soon as I heard that rancid sound of the accordion my ears would perk up and prepare to start singing along.

This song turned me into an instant Van Ronk fan (along with his version of Rev. Gary Davis’ "Cocaine Blues", which also was on steady KUMN rotation back in those daze). But when I brought up "Port of Amsterdam" with Van Ronk, his answer was disappointing. He said he thought the song was a little overwrought. 

"I mean it’s just about a bunch of sailors getting laid. What’s the big deal?" His whiskey voice croaked.

Nevertheless I still love the song.

Me with Van Ronk, La Posada, Santa Fe 1980

Brel never recorded "Amsterdam" for a studio album. It first appeared on his Olympia 1964 record. In Brel’s original French, of course.

But in 1968, Mort Shuman — the guy who co-wrote Elvis’ hit "Viva Las Vegas" — translated "Amsterdam and other Brel songs for the off-Broadway musical Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Here’s the mighty Mort’s take on the song.

With and English translation, the dam seemed to break for the tune and many covers soon followed. 

Scott Walker’s version captured the attention of one David Bowie, whose recording, which originally appeared as the B-side of his 1973 single "Sorrow." I don’t really know but I’d wager that Bowie’s is the best known "Port of Amsterdam."

Even John Denver thought "The Port of Amsterdam" was FARRRRRR OUT!!!!:

If I had to choose my second favorite version of this song, that honor would belong to Marianne Faithful's:

I also like how the Dresden Dolls did it:

But, after all these decades I'm still on Team Van Ronk

Now bring me more fish, throw it down by my side!

A photo I took in the red light district of the port of Amsterdam

For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook