New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam was the name the Dutch gave present-day New York when they settled there in the 17th Century.

Wow. I cant believe it took some cheezy tv show for me to make the connection, but now its soooo obvious; this song is about NEW YORK CITY!! His fascination with Gotham. Thinking about it from that point of view, EVERY lyric now SCREAMS it! Good old New York City--all the glitz, glamour, decadence, beauty...all of it--he's caught up in it and shouldnt be but dammit, just cant help himself. Think of it that way and tell me Im wrong....

It IS Rotherhithe. Rotherhithe is a docks district of London, and Liverpool is also a major port. Costello grew up in London and Liverpool. The "other side" is therefore the other side of the Atlantic from New York (New Amsterdam).

Isn't the first line "You're suddenly tulips mistaken for lilies"? I must hear that wrong. Great song about New York City. Elvis commented that he would make up songs never having experienced certain things (the example used was a lady with a cigerette holder and some attitude) then, when he had money suddenly he would meet those type of people in the flesh. I think that is what is going on here with the "duchess": he is being tempted by all the experiences in New York. "Everything you say sounds like it was ghost written" great line about being self concious from all the critics in New York and how he starts questioning himself.

The wordplay in this song is lyrically stupendous...I love it especially for that reason.

The term "Double Dutch" in the phrase "...speak Double Dutch to a real Double Duchess" is a reference to a kids' language-game, in which kids add the syllable "op" after each syllable of the word. Thus, "hello" becomes "hopellop." The result sounds Gibberish to bystanders but is understood by the kids using it, as a sort of "secret language."

New Amersterdam is a song from Elvis Costello's 1980 LP "Get Happy" featuring a remarkably memorable melody. The song is markedly different in style from most of the LP's other songs which have a noticable Motown influence, which some consider a deliberate effort to salute African American musicians and composers after Costello offended many with racist remark he made at an Ohio Holiday Inn to infuriate a group of musicians travelling with Bonnie Bramlett (it worked; one of them punched his lights out) My understanding is that the song is about an affair with and seduction by an American woman in New York City (aka New Amsterdam). As with many Costello songs, New Amsterdam is filled with double and triple meanings which reflect Costello's brilliance, "loose association", and an apparent desire (in that era of his career) to be somewhat cryptic. As others have noted, "tulips" in the first line may be a reference to the exorbitant price the flowers commanded in Holland circa 1600. Certainly, the flower is used deliberately because phoenetically it is identical to "two lips" which of course characterize all human mouths through which all speach is produced. Consequently, mistaking lillies (traditionally given as a gesture of love) and tulips can be interpreted for mistaking a genuine gesture of love for "talk". This interpretation is consistent with the following line (you give me your lip after punching me silly).. The following line deals with having "his" head turned till it rolled down the brain drain. This is an unmistakable reference to post WWII migration of British scientists (intelligent people) to The U.S. and supports the interpretation that the writer is referring to his own travels or movement to the United States. In the following verses, Costello deals with returning home to UK, which is NOT cryptic ("back in London...."). Finally, he gets nostalgic ("thinking of the old days of Liverpool & Rotherhithe") and in an apparent damning of America and/or a presumably failed love or affair the song finishes with remarking that transparent people on the other side (of the Atlantic) are living a life that is "almost like suicide" Interestingly, the song is in the key of G major which is notable as Costello has repeatedly slipped into John Lennon's 1965 song "Hey You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" (which is also in the key of G) when performing "New Amsterdam" live during solo acoustic sets. As I mentioned above, Costello's songs often have double and triple meanings and my interpretation is not meant to exclude others. -Ephraim Lessell

The first two lines are a way of saying that the girl he is singing about is selling herself short. Tulips at one point in history were worth more thant their weight in gold, this is how the netherlands gained most of their wealth inorder to create the tradeing empire that they established for a short time. The legend has it that tuilps were worth so much only untill someone accidentally bit into a bulb which the plant grows out of, then they were discarded as poor food rations. Im not sure how true this is but it sounds like a good story to me. The rest is pretty much self explanitory to me.

This song is brilliant like all of his songs. One of my favorite versions is where it blends with Hide your love away.

By the way, I think the word is RotherHITHE. Though I may be wrong.

Even though I know he says "selling me tulips mistaken for lilies", every time I hear "selling mint juleps mistaken for lilies".

I think the chorus is one of the most brilliant ever written -- potentially only ever topped by "Blue Chair" on Blood & Chocolate. What an amazing lyricist.