Cars by the water, water that makes this place stand still
Looks like they're thinking, thinking of jumping
I wake to the church bells playing those funky tunes, hey jude
Up in the tower, carillonneurs thumping

I'm trying to love you but you treat me like a hotel
You're coming and going, but you never say where
I'm trying to love you, but I see your heart is elsewhere
Amsterdam says goodnight

I'm dragging my suitcase through Chinatown and the Zeedijk
The racket it's making banging a tourist
Now this is my home,
Though these roots will only ever be so long
It is what it is

I'm trying to love you but you treat me like a hotel
You're coming and going, but you never say where
I'm trying to love you, but I see your heart is elsewhere
Amsterdam says goodnight

I'm trying to love you but you treat me like a hotel
You're coming and going, but you never say where
I'm trying to love you, but I see your heart is elsewhere
Amsterdam says with steel in her voice
"I may seem rude to you but I prefer to hear it straight
And not have to wade through the bullshit between the lines
I know I'm beautiful, and I shouldn't work, but I do
And I can do better than you."


Lyrics submitted by niteflite01

Amsterdam Says song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

3 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    To put it really simple its about loving a woman who doesn't love you back. Just look at th echorus when he says

    "trying to love you but you treat me like a hotel"

    which sounds like she just wants a short time with him and just uses him.The last lines sound like him breaking free of that hold she has on him.

    "I know I'm beautiful, and I shouldn't work, but I do And I can do better than you"

    Really great stuff. Bell X1 do such simple and brilliant acoustic songs, I actually can't understand why they don't do more

    jonathanfurriskeyon June 26, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    As opposed to this song being about a person, it's actually about the city of Amsterdam too.

    Paul Noonan, lead singer and lyricist for Bell X1 spent some time living in Amsterdam (where one of his friends was incidentally a carillonneur, hence the reference in this song) with a girlfriend of the time.

    This song is about his regretful failure both to settle with his girlfriend, and in the city itself - despite being in love with both of them. It's about alienation, and never feeling quite good enough.

    The final verse/chorus sees the city speak back to him;

    "I may seem rude to you but I prefer to hear it straight And not have to wade through the bullshit between the lines I know I'm beautiful, and I shouldn't work, but I do And I can do better than you."

    niteflite01on June 30, 2011   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Bell X1 have written many beautiful songs but this is my favourite because I can relate to it so personally. There is a melancholic sense of disillusion, rejection and inferiority in the song that is perfect.

    I lived in the Netherlands as an expat for three years and at the end I felt like this. You admire the place, you marvel at the way it works in spite of itself, you even start to fall in love with it a little. It smiles at you, lets you in a little, but it doesn't want you to stay, not really. Foreigners come and go, they are part of the fabric of the place but they can never really be a part of it. You will never be good enough. Amsterdam doesn't love you in return. For it you are a "hotel". And so your roots will only grow so long.

    I suspect Noonan was in love with a Dutch girl too, which would have amplified the feelings about NL, as it's unusual for a Dutch girl to choose a non-Dutch partner and relationships can be tough. I expect his relationship with the girl paralleled that of his relationship with the city.

    misty11410on November 17, 2014   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Holiday
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday". I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Album art
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it. “I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.