New Amsterdam - Elvis Costello, The Attractions

You’re sending me tulips mistaken for lilies

You give me your lip after punching me silly

You turned my head till it rolled down the brain drain

If I had any sense now I wouldn’t want it back again

New Amsterdam it’s become much too much

Till I have the possession of everything she touches

Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches

Till I speak double dutch to a real double duchess

Down on the mainspring, listen to the tick tock

Clock all the faces that move in on your block

Twice shy and dog tired because you’ve been bitten

Everything you say now sounds like it was ghost-written

New Amsterdam it’s become much too much

Till I have the possession of everything she touches

Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches

Till I speak double dutch to a real double duchess

Back in London they’ll take you to heart after a little while

Though I look right at home I still feel like an exile

Somehow I found myself down at the dockside

Thinking of the old days of Liverpool and Rotherhide

Transparent people who live on the other side

Living a life that is almost like suicide

New Amsterdam it’s become much too much

Till I have the possession of everything she touches

Till I step on the brakes to get out of her clutches

Till I speak double dutch to a real double duchess