We were the cliché American backpackers
Standing on the side of the road in the rain
With our cardboard sign written in black sharpie
That read Amsterdam
We were going to Amsterdam
So we weren't surprised by the looks in the eyes
Of the people in their cars when they passed us by
And the gave us the middle finger
Or the thumbs up or thumbs down
But we stayed tough, we stood our ground
And by the end of the afternoon
We got dropped off in the middle of this town
Now everyone will tell you 'bout the coffee shops
And everyone will tell you 'bout the red-light district
But somehow up to now it seems they all forgot to mention
The millions of bikes locked to the millions of bridges
That arch up like rainbows to cross the city's millions of canals
That run down every street with the houseboats nice and neat
And the buildings lean so much you think that they might fall down
Like the rain that day that drove us to a stoop
Gotta feel sorry for all the hippies
That came here in the '60s
Now they don't know who they are
We watched one of them playin' flute
He was tryin' to earn some change
We had spent all of our money for that day
We grew hungry and the rain just came and came
And oh how I wished I had some of those fries
All the people were eating when they passed us by
And I closed my eyes for a minute or two
I opened them up when I got a nudge from you
There was the hippie, the one with the flute,
And holding in his hands was my wish come true
And he handed me the whole thing
And this whole interaction felt was more like a dream
He was readin' my mind it seemed
Like a genie granting wishes for people on the street
And we never could have thanked him enough
I don't know if he knew how much it meant to us
And that night in a tent we counted all our money
And we figured out how long we could stay
The way it looked to me we could live here forever
Sleep in the campground, eat falafel every day
But that's not what we came here to do
We had so much more left to see
And though this place felt so nice
We made our plans to leave
And we went to this park where they had free bikes at the gate
Spent the day riding through the trees and it felt great
We were offered a place to stay on the floor of someone's office
But we chose to sleep beside the interstate
And the sounds of the cars passing by
Put us right to sleep
Nothin' beats layin' right under the stars
And I always feel safe when you're sleepin' beside me