1. IN THE DUTCH MOUNTAINS

I was born in the valley of bricks
Where the river runs high above the rooftops
I was waiting for the cars coming home late at night
From the Dutch mountains

I was standing in the valley of rock
Up to my belly in an early fog
I was looking for the road to a green painted house
In the Dutch mountains

In the Dutch mountains
Mountains

I met a woman in the valley of stone
She was painting roses on the walls of her home
And the moon is a coin with the head of the queen
Of the Dutch mountains

Mountains

I lost a button of my shirt today
It fell on the ground
And it was rolling away
Like a trail leading me back
To the Dutch mountains

To the Dutch mountains
Mountains

I met a miller on the back of a cow
He was looking for the wind but he didn't know how
I said: Follow the cloud that looks like a sheep
In the Dutch mountains
In the Dutch mountains
In the Dutch mountains
Mountains
Mountains
Buildings


2. J.O.S. DAYS

The war monument is still standing
Between two football fields
With the name of the men killed on the battle fields
They were center forwards, keepers and backs
They thought they would win

It's a family tradition
To play in a football team
I have nephews, dumb but tall
Who, still foetus, kicked the ball
I've got flat feet and my knees are weak
They all thought it was time to start my J.O.S. days

J.O.S. days

The last war in this country
The fighting lasted four days
I see one name again
He had my age and my first name
He thought he would win like in his J.O.S days

J.O.S. days

They had too many boys
Who wanted to be in a team
So in one day, in one match
You had to prove your ability
I was knocked out, a real disgrace
A break with the family tradition of the J.O.S. days

J.O.S. days

I can live without a finger
I can live without a toe
But the head is necessary


3. TWO SKATERS

Two skaters on an icecream floor
And one of them fell on the ground
This is what she has been waiting for
Till one of them fell down

Your sister in Canada
Is sending a gun and one pair of skates
The gun is not real, the shoes are too large
You load it and wait

Two skaters on an icecream floor
And one of them fell on the ground
This is what she has been waiting for
Till one of them fell down

Your sister in brown shoes
Is walking down the street as it begins to snow

Your sister in Montreal
Is sending an LP of the Velvet Underground
We're steaming the walls of your brothers old room
Peel slowly and listen

Two skaters on an icecream floor
And one of them fell on the ground


4. PELICAN & PENGUIN

My aunt is living in the country in a house by the water
That's the place where I learned to swim

When the uncle was still living he kept his prize winning chickens

That looked like waiters in black & white

I was sleeping in the attic between the preservation bottles
And my cousin with peroxidized hair

The boys next door were standing on a tyre of an aeroplane
In the middle of the river in their Sunday suits

Pelican & Penguin you are wakening me up

My uncle he was reading lots of pocket books
He had one shelf for Penguin and one shelf for Pelican

When he was dead and buried my aunt gave me the books
She didn't care too much for reading

And nowadays when I travel I always take one of each
I look at the back and make my choice


5. IN A PLAY

In a play where the actors die
You told me you were thinking of
The clothes-line in the attic

In a play when the shirts are dry
You showed him the vaccination mark
On your upper arm

I will try to frame your face
I will try to speak your name
Das Maedchen im Pelz
The elevator's gone

In a plane where the stewards charm
You told me you were falling
Out of the highest tree in the world

In a plane flying to Helsinki
Somewhere in a forest
A tree is falling down

I will try to frame your face
I will try to speak your name
Das Maedchen im Pelz
The elevator's gone

In a play where the actors die
You told me you were thinking of
A bathroom hung with dripping blouses


6. OOM-PAH-PAH

Dance with me baby
I'm falling
Dance with me baby
I'm falling
I'm falling asleep in your arms tonight
Dance with me baby
I'm falling


Catch me my baby
I'm falling
Out of a tree into your arms
Catch me my baby
I'm falling asleep in your arms tonight

Oom-pah-pah men in the bone-caves

Oom-pah-pah men get up late

Don't open the cupboard
Don't open the door
I'm afraid


7. THE PANORAMA MAN

Who brings the cars of Michel Valliant
Who brings Archie 'the man of steel'
Who brings the apes of Scandinavia
Out of the drizzle into the real world!

Here comes the panorama man
The globe will turn beneath his thumb and he's leaving again
Here comes the panorama man

Who brings the victims of the flood (on the roof)
The power of the chemical stain remover
Did you know the habits of the orchids and rabbits
Pictures of rosebud trees in bloom

He says he's living in a nothing-block
His wife is from a family of wealthy epileptic
But poverty does not mean unhappiness
Body rich, body poor, nowadays nothing's sure

Here comes the panorama man
The globe will turn beneath his thumb and he's leaving again
Here comes the panorama man

What's your most romantic moment?
A school of herring in the fishing net
A very black man is crossing a rope bridge
The knock out of a welter weight

Here comes the panorama man
The globe will turn beneath his thumb and he's leaving again
Here comes the panorama man


8. MOUNTAIN JAN

We are proud of Jan
We are proud of Jan
We named a mountain after you somewhere in Antarctica
Unclimable, no different from the nameless others

He spent a number of years at this project
And now he knows how an electron behaves

Hom hom
The big man falls asleep

Hom hom
The mountain falls asleep


9. ONE EYE OPEN

Boy, look at the letter A
Cover your left eye, cover your right eye

And will you please explain
What are you seeing again
When the letters grow small

Boy, look at the room
Cover your right eye, look at my hand

And will you say to me
How many fingers you see
With one eye open

Boy, your eyes are much bigger now
Bigger than your stomach, open them once again

And will you please say to me
How many fingers you see
With one eye open


10. AN EATING HOUSE

Car is driving through the hills all day
Mom and Dad and the kids are on a holiday
And they wanna eat

Daddy, we're hungry
We're on the road too long
We are hu-hu-hungry
We're on the road too long and we wanna eat

And Daddys says
I know a little place
Where I used to eat in my salesman days
When I was hu-hu-hungry
On the road too long
Hu-hungry
I see the little house at the end of the road

I am an eating house
I am an eating house

Once I was a famous restaurant between Utrecht and Salzburg
I wore silver and linen and on the menu I had every dream
Schnecken im Speckhemd, and things you haven't seen

I'm hungry
It's my turn to eat
I am hu-hu-hungry
I wanna grow like a man
I wanna grow like a house
I'll be a skyscraper
This is what I wanna do
I wanna be a castle
Hu-hu-hungry
Who's on my road today
Hu-hu-hungry
I'm gonna eat the car
I'm gonna eat the little kids

I am an eating house
I am an eating house


11. THE SWIMMER

Here comes the replay of an old dream
I was dreaming when I was a small boy
Turn around
Turn around

I'm in a drier in the kitchen
In a tornado of shirts and towels
Turn around
Turn around

The other day I had my tonsils out
The smell of ether in dark rooms
Turn around
Turn around

Tonight's different, the dream's not ending
The drier opens, the water's streaming out
It fills the house
And fills the house

I am the swimmer in the old house
The water slowly fills the rooms
Turn around
Turn around

Here comes the replay of an old dream
I was dreaming when I was a small boy
Turn around
Turn around


12. GOOD NIGHT

Someone sings
In a sweet voice
Tonight
Everything's all right

Mother is coming
Up the stairs
She tells a story
Of a manetee
Someone sings
In a sweet voice
Tonight
Everything's all right


13. STRANGERS OF THE NIGHT

We're strangers of the night
Looking at each other in the window light
You say: Let's go this way tonight

The city turns
The city burns
And I am in the back of the car
The city turns
The city burns
And I don't know where you are

Slowly the light changes
Window to window
Your hand is cupping the light of a match
Printed roses on your dress
Dark and light in folding of clothings

Body is Braille
Body is Braille

A wagon full of big-eyed cattle
Boys with potato-faces
Girls with red hands
My head is rolling full of ocean
She's a pet bird to be proud of (Julie)

You lack leadership qualities
A white steamer stuck in the afternoon

He told us to double back, double back, double back

Random birds in small backyards
Catching the morning ferry
A dark curtain of rain
A dark curtain of rain

Body is Braille
Body is Braille

A dark curtain of rain
Your hand is cupping the light of a match

A telephone rings

An aeroplane flies
We are catching the morning ferry
In a dark curtain of rain


14. THE MAGIC OF LASSIE

The highway ended and he got out
His one good ear to the ground
(But where is) the magic of Lassie

I've got a feeling that
She's been away too long

A voice out of heaven said: quarter past seven!
The sand is running quickly through an hourglass
(But where is) the magic of Lassie

I've got a feeling that
She's been away too long

Think what it means to be an animal
Crossing a highway, all the channels are weak tonight
The magic of Lassie

I've got a feeling that
She's been away too long


15. MOON AND STARS

Don't go far
I'm your star
Don't be late
I can wait

The moon will shine on this house of mine