Dutchman - Chuck Berry - LYRICS A Bunch of guys was in this bar room Most of them had been there half the day They'd been telling jokes and fairy tales Lying just to pass the time away Then suddenly someone cracked the bar room door And then pushed it open wide And this huge tall dark dude Bowed his head and stepped inside I wonder where he's from? Some blonde asked. The wind must have blown him in But an old Dutchman offered him a drink. What will it be, whisky rum or gin? Sick and fido" a redhead shouted Show his way back to the street." But the Great Dane just walked over and licked his hand And lay down at his feet He said, "if you spare me that drink Dutchman, I promise I tell you how That I came to be the helpless sight that stands before you now" I used to be an artist, not one who sits and fiddle on the kerb But in my day and time My music was considered superb I wrote a song about a poor kid Raised down in New Orleans It didn't make the hall of fame, But it bought us shrimp, rice and beans He kept at it until he made the big time, Playing town after town Until he met a woman he fell in love with And it really turned his life around She had eyes like Cleopatra And a head of luxurious hair, With the brilliance of her beauty None other could compare When she lifted her eyes to his, Her lips would fall apart Each time she allowed him kiss her, It near petrified his heart But when he ask her would she marry him, He'd give her everything he had! She turned and walked away And it nearly drove him mad He promised her a half a million And would even pay in advance, If she would let him prove himself Or at least give him a chance And if he should go blind and hand to use his hands to feel, He would hire someone to do her work And prepare her every meal How could a man love a woman so much? Not one of you would think! Well, I did and I still do Hey Dutchman, you promised me a drink!
This will always be the definitive version for me. The music on the version from The Man Who Sold The World just doesn't fit with the strange, enigmatic, mythical lyrics.
Mildred Falls playing on this album is so good it's almost as if God himself had entered her soul. You can't really easily beat the piano playing of Mildred Falls.
