Bowie also took from “Amsterdam” its sense of apocalyptic timing (such as how “Amsterdam” begins quietly, with the port slowly waking up, and builds to a wild, drunken spectacle) and its exacting demands on a singer, who has to deliver the entire lyric without barely a pause in three minutes, the intoned words “in the port of Amsterdam” serving as the unchanging hub of the song. Country: Netherlands. This expanded edition includes two bonus tracks: Pallas Athena and V-2 Schneider. He was a leading figure in the music industry and is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. The Motel (David Bowie) (Amsterdam, Paradiso, 10th June, 1997) The Voyeur Of Utter Destruction (As Beauty) (David Bowie/Brian Eno/Reeves Gabrels) (Rio de Janeiro, Metropolitan, 2nd November, 1997) Battle for Britain (The Letter) (David Bowie/Reeves Gabrels/Mark Plati) (Radio City Music Hall New York, 15th October, 1997. Follow @genius on Twitter for updates Noticed it had nothing an I couldn’t stand for that. Great song. David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Amsterdam Lyrics: In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who sings / Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea / In the port of Amsterdam, there's a sailor who sleeps / … The recent Dutch-language production of Lazarus at the DeLaMar theater in Amsterdam is the first chance for two and a half years for audiences to see Ivo van Hove’s original staging, as previously mounted in New York and London. Bowie even originally intended to end side 1 of Ziggy Stardust with his studio version of “Amsterdam,” with Side 2’s closing song, “Rock and Roll Suicide,” being a thematic twin of sorts, Bowie’s own rock & roll Brel song. The studio recording of “Amsterdam,” made in the summer of 1971 during the early Ziggy Stardust sessions, was eventually cut from the LP (though it was on the first master recording) and wound up issued as the B-side of “Sorrow” in 1973. David Bowie ‎– Amsterdam Genre: Rock. The BBC recording is my preferred Bowie version ( Brel’s is number one choice). Brel refused to meet Bowie when he visited Paris, saying he did not wish to meet a "pédé" ("faggot"), but the latter nevertheless still a… Open wide Bring me more fish by my side and he wants to be, but he's too full to try so it stands up loves. Both comments and pings are currently closed. the sails only fish heads and tails and he'll show you his teeth, but tora too soon that can hold of the sails the can swallow the moon. Jacques Brel, according to legend, composed "Amsterdam" in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in a house overlooking the Mediterranean. He read the completed lyrics to a fisherman friend, who wept and cut open … Bowie likely first heard “Amsterdam” via Scott Walker’s cover recording, which was the final track on Walker’s 1967 debut LP. Scott Walker recorded several of these translated Brel songs in the late 1960s. Amsterdam (Scott Walker, 1967). Label: RCA Victor ‎– SP-3943. Amsterdam (Jacques Brel). “Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers” At the tail end of last year, the GRAMMY Awards department announced that David Bowie’s Changes was being inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame, 45 years after its release as a 45.. They’ve recently been … Year: 2015. “Port of Amsterdam” is a cover of Jaques Brel’s 1964 song “Amsterdam.” The song was translated from French to English by Mort Shuman. I agree with IDidThelggy – Brel’s original is my favourite now, though I lived for a long time only knowing Bowie’s and felt perfectly satisfied with it. Label: Parlophone ‎– DBISH 2015, Parlophone ‎– 0825646068913. It’s not just some random sailors in a Dutch port, we all recognise ourselves, in an exaggerated form, in the sailors and their women. LIVEANDWELL.COM was recorded in New York, Amsterdam and Rio De Janeiro during the 1997 Earthling tour. Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single. Amsterdam (David Bowie, BBC, February 1970). […] the way: there’s a lovely, thoughtful blogpost on Bowie’s Amsterdam here with an old photo of Amsterdam port and some thoughts on the sailors as characters in […]. Get the David Bowie Setlist of the concert at Paradiso Grote Zaal, Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 10, 1997 from the Earthling Tour and other David Bowie Setlists for free on setlist.fm! Amsterdam (David Bowie, BBC, February 1970). Renard Livres Echanges, near Les Halles, Paris, Confusing easy with significant | Sing Better English, Matthew-Walker: David Bowie, Theatre of Music, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars: 1972. Of Amsterdam, the sail is on. The BBC version has Bowie trying to channel his Brel, while the studio version is most certainly a Walker interpretation. Amsterdam, 3rd June 2019 50.000 EXTRA TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR DAVID BOWIE’S LAZARUS IN AMSTERDAM THE RUN OF BOWIE’S ‘LAST MASTERPIECE’ HAS BEEN EXTENDED THANKS TO OVERWHELMING INTEREST With more than four months to go until the Lazarus premiere, the David Bowie musical has sold mor In the port of Amsterdam There's a sailor who sings Of the dreams that he brings From the wide open sea In the port of Amsterdam (see spoken bit in the studio version). I enjoyed your Breughel reference especially. This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 12:36 pm and is filed under Philips/Mercury Years: 1969-1970. Top: “Renard Livres Echanges, near Les Halles, Paris,” 1970. Country: Mexico. Amsterdam (David Bowie, BBC, February 1970). View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1973 Vinyl release of Sorrow / Amsterdam on Discogs. English singer David Bowie in Amsterdam, 1987. Like “Waiting for the Man,” the other song Bowie obsessively covered in this period, “Amsterdam” offers street life as stage material, but where Lou Reed’s lyric is the narrow perceptions of its junkie narrator, Brel’s “Amsterdam” is sprawling, a Bruegelian vision: a port filled with drunken, paunchy sailors who chew fish heads with their rotten teeth, piss in the street, fight, sing in broken voices and use the port prostitutes “for a few dirty coins.” The sense of life as a canvas, the vulgar proletarians as actors in their own dramas, appealed to Bowie, whose ’60s lyrics had tended to be obscure or bloodless—he sensed a method, via Brel, to connect with reality more directly, to use stagecraft to build more resonant songs. This inspired David Bowie to record his own versions of "Amsterdam" in the early 1970s. In all his attempts, Bowie seems too much in awe of the material: when he tries to outdo Brel in intensity and Walker in moodiness (particularly in the studio recording) his vocal is stagy and strained, the lyric’s judgments seem unearned. David Robert Jones (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. !function(t,e,r){var n,s=t.getElementsByTagName(e)[0],i=/^http:/.test(t.location)? In late 1968 Bowie began covering “Amsterdam” with his folk trio, keeping the song in his stage repertoire until 1972 (he replaced it with Brel’s “My Death,” which better suited the times). David Bowie ‎– Sorrow / Amsterdam. Get the David Bowie Setlist of the concert at ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands on June 11, 2004 from the A Reality Tour and other David Bowie Setlists for free on setlist.fm! Brel never recorded “Amsterdam,” despite it being one of his best-known songs: its only official release is on a 1964 live LP of Brel at the Olympia, in Paris. Jacques Brel, according to legend, composed “Amsterdam” in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, in a house overlooking the Mediterranean. [CDATA[ David Bowie - Amsterdam (1972) (Cover, original written by Jacques Brel in French) (In the first verse each chord indicated is swept once) Am In … Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single, Limited Edition, Remastered, Orange. Follow @genius He was a leading figure in the music industry and is considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. Is your photo of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin itself? Amsterdam (Jacques Brel). Ray Staff Mastered By. //]]>, Sorry, we have to make sure you're a human before we can show you this page. Tracklist . Amsterdam (Scott Walker, 1967). "http":"https";t.getElementById(r)||(n=t.createElement(e),n.id=r,n.src=i+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js",s.parentNode.insertBefore(n,s))}(document,"script","twitter-wjs"); Thank you for writing that. Released: 11 Dec 2015. //