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lyrics

Down in the back streets,
The back streets so mean,
There is Crioda who's only fifteen.
Though she is mine, she won't know who I am -
Down in the back streets,
The back streets of old Rotterdam.

I was recalled to Holland on pretexts so vague
For a touch of diplomacy out in the Hague.
I dry-cleaned my suit and I processed my smile,
And spent days counting paperclips into a file.

Does your mother wonder what happened to me
When I joined the Luftwaffe in '43?
When caught in a Gaffelstraat small-death romance,
The army invaded and smashed into France.

‘O where, tell me where is my father?’, you cry,
And I hope that your mother will tell this sweet lie:
That in all of this world, there's none to compare
To your poor father who died in the war.

The conference ended a few days too soon
So I ordered my breakfast for late afternoon.
I bothered room-service to call up my wife -
Leaving you and your mother as ships in the night.

Down in the back streets,
The back streets so mean,
There is Crioda who's only fifteen.
Though she is mine, she won't know who I am,
Down in the back streets,
The back streets of old Rotterdam.

credits

from Ancient And Modern: Highlights of Half​-​a​-​Century, released December 8, 2023

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Alan Clayson UK

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