Amsterdam Chords

KeyAm CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays594

Amsterdam by David Bowie is a moderately challenging guitar song played in the key of Am. It uses the chords Am, Em, F, E, Dm, C and G. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
Am
Text
16
Speed
  			Am                                 Em 
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sings 
       F                              E 
Of the dreams that he brings from the wide open sea 
       Am                          Em 
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who sleeps 
          Dm         E     Am 
While the river bank weeps to the old willow tree 
       C                           G          E 
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who dies 
        Am                  Em                E 
Full of beer, full of cries in a drunken town fight 
       F                           E 
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who's born 
     Dm        E           Am 
On a hot muggy morn by the dawn's early light 
 
 
ACOUSTIC:  Am 
 
 
       Am                          Em 
In the port of Amsterdam where the sailors all meet 
          F                    E 
There's a sailor who eats only fish heads and tails 
          Am                           Em 
And he'll show you his teeth that have rotted too soon 
         Dm          E              Am 
That can haul up the sails that can swallow the moon 
       C                          G         E 
And he yells to the cook with his arms open wide 
     Am                          Em         E 
Hey, bring me more fish throw it down by my side 
       F                          E 
And he wants so to belch but he's too full to try 
      Dm            E             Am 
So he stands up and laughs and he zips up his fly 
 
 
       Am                        Em 
In the port of Amsterdam you can see sailors dance 
         F                             E 
Paunches bursting their pants grinding women to porch 
           Am                         Em 
They've forgotten the tune that their whiskey voice croaked 
Dm            E              Am 
Splitting the night with the roar of their jokes 
         C                            G              E 
And they turn and they dance and they laugh and they lust 
         Am                    Em      E 
Till the rancid sound of the accordion bursts 
         F                           E 
And then out of the night with their pride in their pants 
        Dm              E        Am 
And the sluts that they tow underneath the street lamps 
 
 
       Am                          Em 
In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who drinks 
       F                           E 
And he drinks and he drinks and he drinks once again 
      Am                         Em 
He'll drink to the health of the whores of Amsterdam 
       Dm          E           Am 
Who've given their bodies to a thousand other men 
              C                            G            E 
Yeah, they've bargained their virtue their goodness all gone 
      Am                      Em            E 
For a few dirty coins well he just can't go on 
           F                      E 
Throws his nose to the sky and he aims it up above 
       Dm            E          Am 
And he pisses like I cry on the unfaithful love 
       Am                        Em               F  E  Am  E  Am 
In the port of Amsterdam, in the port of Amsterdam 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

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Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante