"Far Side of the World"

~By Jimmy Buffet

Ramadan is over

The new moon's shown her face

I'm halfway 'round the planet

In a most unlikely place

Following my songline

Past bamboo shacks and shops

Behind a jitney packed like sardines

With bananas piled on top

 

I ran away from politics

It's too bizarre at home

Away I flew turned into blue

"Maybe Amsterdam or Rome"

(merci Joni)

Awakened by a stewardess

With Spain somewhere below

On the threshold of adventure

God I do love this job so

 

So while I make my move

On the big board game

Up and down a Spanish highway

Some things remain the same

Girls meet boys

And boys tease girls

I'm heading out this morning

For the far side of the world

 

Oh I believe in songlines

Obvious and not

I've ridden them like camels

To some most peculiar spots

They run across the oceans

Through mountains and saloons

And tonight out to the desert

Where I sit atop this dune

 

I was destined for the vantage point 

Though it's so far from the sea

I've lived it in the pages

Of St. Exupery

From Paris to Tunisia

Casablanca to Dakar

I was riding long before I flew

Through the wind and sand and stars

 

Caravan 

Ride the hum

And Timbuktu's

A jillion bumps

Sleeping bags and battle flags

Are coiled and furled

That's the way you travel

To the far side of the world

 

A sunset framed by lightening bolts

Burns a lasting memory

And a string of tiny twinkling lights

Adorn the sausage tree

While the embers from the log fire

Flicker, fly and twirl

Then drift off towards the cosmos

From the far side of the world

 

Now it's Christmas and my birthday

And so to that extent

The Masai not the Wise Men

Are circling my tent

I teach them how to play guitar

They show me how to dance

We have rum from the Caribbean

And burgundy from France

 

New Year's Eve in Zanzibar

With Babu and his boys

High up on the rooftop

You can relish all the noise

They are dancing on the tables

People bouncing like gazelles

Two O O One is ushered in 

With air raid horns and bells

 

Time to sing

Time for dance

Living out

My second chance

Cobras and sleeping bags

Are coiled and curled

That's the way it happens

On the far side of the world

 

Back at home it's afternoon

Six thousand miles away

It will still be there

When I get through attending this soiree

There are jobs and chores and questions

And plates I need to twirl

But tonight I'll take my chances on

The far side of the world

Yes that's the way it happens

On the far side of the world