Far Side of the World - Jimmy Buffett

Ramadan is over

The new moon’s shown her face

I’m halfway round the planet

In a most unlikely place

Following my song line

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, tuned into Blue

«Maybe Amsterdam or Rome»

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 the boys tease girls

I’m heading out this morning

For the Far Side of the World

Oh I believe in song lines

Obvious and not

I’d ridden them like camels

To some most peculiar spots

They run across the oceans

Through mountains and saloons

And tonight out to the dessert

Where I sit atop this dune

I was destined for this vantage point

Which is so far from the Sea

I’ve lived it in the pages of Saint-Exupery

From Paris to Tunisia

Casablanca to Dakar

I was riding long before I flew

Through the wind and sand and stars

Caravan

Ride that hump

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 toward the cosmos

From the Far Side of the World

Well 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 0−0-1 is ushered in

With air raid horns and bells

Time to sing time to 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

I 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

That’s the way it happens

On the Far Side of the World