"The Dutchman" is a song written by Michael Peter Smith

Michael Peter Smith

Michael Peter Smith is a Chicago, U.S.-based singer-songwriter. Rolling Stone Magazine once called him "The greatest songwriter in the English language"...

 in 1968 and popularized by Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman

Steve Goodman was an American folk music singer-songwriter from Chicago, Illinois. The writer of "City of New Orleans", made popular by Arlo Guthrie, Goodman won two Grammy Awards.-Personal life:...

. At the time Smith wrote the song, he had never visited the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

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The song is about an elderly couple living in Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, Margaret and the title character. The unnamed Dutchman is senile, and Margaret cares for him with a sadness over what has happened to him over the years. It's a story of unconditional love.

Covers

While Goodman's cover version of "The Dutchman" is one of the best known, along with a cover by Irish artists Liam Clancy

Liam Clancy

William "Liam" Clancy was an Irish folk singer and actor from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. He was the youngest and last surviving member of performing group The Clancy Brothers. The group were regarded as Ireland's first pop stars...

 and Tommy Makem

Tommy Makem

Thomas "Tommy" Makem was an internationally celebrated Irish folk musician, artist, poet and storyteller. He was best known as a member of The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem. He played the long-necked 5-string banjo, guitar, tin whistle, and bagpipes, and sang in a distinctive baritone...

, the song has been covered by many other artists as well, including John Gorka

John Gorka

John Gorka is a contemporary American folk musician. In 1991, Rolling Stone magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement."-Biography:...

, Suzy Bogguss

Suzy Bogguss

Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...

, Norm Hacking

Norm Hacking

Norm Hacking was a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter.- Early life :Hacking spent his first six years living in a house that used to be his grandparents, in the Gerrard Street and Victoria Park Avenue area of Scarborough, Ontario. When he was six his family "moved out to 'Scarberia'," he would...

, Anne Hills

Anne Hills

Anne Hills is an American folk singer-songwriter.Hills was born in October, 1953, to a family of missionaries in India and grew up in Michigan. She studied at Interlochen, where she played in a band with Chris Brubeck and Peter Erskine. In 1976, she moved to Chicago and was a co-founder of the...

, John McDermott

John McDermott (singer)

John Charles McDermott is a Scottish-Canadian tenor best known for his rendering of the song "Danny Boy". Born in Glasgow, Scotland, John moved with his family to Willowdale, Ontario, Canada in 1965. Growing up in a musical family, his only formal musical training was at St...

, The New Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio

The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...

, Gamble Rogers, Tom Russell

Tom Russell

Thomas George "Tom" Russell is an American singer-songwriter. Although most strongly identified with the Texas Country music tradition, his music also incorporates elements of folk, Tex-Mex, and the cowboy music of the American West. Many of his songs have been recorded by other artists, including...

, Jerry Jeff Walker

Jerry Jeff Walker

Jerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...

, Robert James Waller

Robert James Waller

Robert James Waller is an American author, also known for his work as a photographer and musician.-Life:Waller received his B.A. and M.A. from University of Northern Iowa . He received his Ph.D...

, Cashman & West, Josh White, Jr., Wood's Tea Company

Wood's Tea Company

Woods Tea Company is an American folk music group based in Vermont. They perform a wide variety of songs, including sea shanties, folk songs, Irish drinking songs, and Celtic music. The group is known for their energy, musical talent, and their dry sense of humor between songs.- History :Woods Tea...

, John Friday, Keith Harkin

Keith Harkin

Keith R. Harkin was born June 10, 1986 in Derry, Northern Ireland. He is currently a member of Celtic Thunder. He plays the guitar and piano and has written one of the songs for Celtic Thunder: "Lauren and I". Keith has now recorded more original songs apart from Celtic Thunder, some titles...

, Celtic Thunder

Celtic Thunder

Celtic Thunder is a singing group composed of male soloists who perform both solo and ensemble numbers. Celtic Thunder debuted in August 2007 at The Helix in Dublin, Ireland...

, David Soul

David Soul

David Soul is an American-British actor and singer, best known for his role as Detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the television programme Starsky and Hutch . He gained British citizenship in 2004.-Early life:...

 and Brendan Grace

Brendan Grace

Brendan Grace is an Irish comedian and singer. He is known for his comedy schoolboy character "Bottler", the role of Murphy in the 1995 movie Moondance, and his 1996 appearance in the Irish TV sitcom Father Ted as Father Fintan Stack.-Background:Born in the heart of Dublin in 1951, Brendan was...

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