In The Dutch Mountains

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

J.O.S. Days

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Two Skaters

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Pelican & Penguin

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

In A Play (Das Maedchen im Pelz)

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Oom-pah-pah

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

The Panorama man

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Mountain Jan

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

One Eye Open

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

An Eating House

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

The Swimmer

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Goodnight

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

[All over the song: Goodnight]

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

Strangers Of The Night

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

The Magic Of Lassie

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

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

Moon And Stars

(Hofstede/Kloet/Stips - Hofstede)

Don't go far

I'm your star

Don't be late

I can wait

The moon will shine on this house of mine