Rain Falls Down In Amsterdam - Eric Andersen

Rain falls down in Amsterdam

The streets are wet and black

Midnights like November

By the glow of a cigarette

The girls on hash in Station Square

Looking stupid from the drugs

When Marlena heard the boots march

There were reasons to be dumb

Shiny helmets in the shadows

Those trains that left at night

Those hiding in the cellars

Those eyes afraid of light

Something 'neath the border’s

Poured poison in the well

The creature has uncoiled

And is crawling up from Hell

Here comes nineteen fourteen

Nineteen thirty-two

Those cattle cars and yellow stars

It’s right back to the roots

It’s moving in the open

With a snarl and a growl

The cages have been broken

And the beast is on the prowl

Firebomb those houses

Burn those refugees

Be the crowd and do your work

Applauding silently

Round up all the gypsies

Go set them on the trains

Can’t you smell the smoke now

Drifting through the rain

Jews, better draw your curtains

You better lock your doors up tight

They’re snarling up in Rostock

In the beer halls, belly nights

The Fourth Reich’s coming, baby

They’re writing out the page

In Rome, Berlin, and Stockholm

Yeah, the beast has left the cage

Here comes nineteen thirty-two

Here comes déjà vu

Those cattle cars and yellow stars

Was there someone that you knew

It’s right there in the open

Something smelling bad

All the cages have been broken

And the beast is running mad

Those canals and cozy houses

Those reflections in the lights

You can almost feel it moving

The monster in the night

It’s looking with its yellow eyes

It’s out to settle scores

In the dim medieval distance

Feel it breathing down your pores

In Salt Lake and in Rio

The beast can smell the flames

It’s faxing hate out in Marseilles

Typing out your name

You can hear the windows shatter

As the time is drawing near

Kristallnacht’s come to town

Welcome back to the house of mirrors

The fire and the armbands

And the iron arm salutes

Pointing to the scapegoat

Is it me or was it you

It’s right there in the open

Don’t just stand there hoping

The leashes have been broken

And the dogs are on the loose

Now I have been here thinking

How lucky I have been

I never touched the barbed wire

Never saw the monkey grin

No rifle ever smashed my face

No bare electric shock

But I’ll confess up all I know

Who I am and who I’m not

To see retired killers

Is to see the lion yawn

The skinheads do their dirty work

For the cloak-and-dagger pawns

The dark eyes will be waiting there

When the borders they are crossed

So keep your filthy swastikas

Shove your iron cross

Here comes nineteen fourteen

Nineteen thirty-two

Those cattle cars and yellow stars

It’s right back to the roots

It’s out there in the open

It’s crawling on the move

The cages have been broken

And the beast is on the loose

Can’t you smell the blood now

Can’t you smell the truth

Oh, the rain falls down in Amsterdam

The rain falls down in Amsterdam

Oh, the rain falls down in Amsterdam

Yeah, the rain falls down in Amsterdam