you're sending me tulips mistaken for lilies

you give me a look that the function is silly

you turn my head till it roll down the brain-drain

if I had any sense now I wouldn't want it back again



chorus

new amsterdam it's become much too much

'til I have the possession of everything she touches

'til I step on the brake to get out of her clutches

'til I speak double dutch to a real double duchess



down on the main spring listen to the tick-tock

collect all the faces that move in your lot

twice-shy and dog-tied because you've been bitten

everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written



chorus



back in london they'll take you to heart after a little while

though I look right at home I still feel like an exile



somehow I found myself down at the dockside

thinking about the old days of liverpool and rotherhide

transparent people who live on the other side

living a life that is almost like suicide



chorus