Arabian Nights |
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| Shrieks of shiekhs as they run across the movie screen
A thousand sand dune soldiers led by an Arabian Queen And the harem girls move like fancy dancers In my dirty dreams And I wake up on the floor clutching the bed lamp And Mama comes in She screams Hey you been out with that tramp again last night You know that silver sequined Arab black bitch The one that Mama don't like But Mama she sings me moontime melodies With this great Top 40 hook She shrugs her shoulders She don't care Papa just stares and says Mary look the girl's alright The girl's alright And there's a tenseness in the air He turns and says Don't you know, can't you feel it Tell me son, what's the word Because there's something hanging there 'Cause you know he can't hear it Pull back the mist and reveal it But don't go near it And even if you fear what you near It's criticised as too absurd Don't conceal it Even the animals fear it 'Cause if what Mama feels is too real Papa says "Fetch me my flashlight son She just claims she don't feel it And she stumbles out the front door So come out from behind your bunkers 'Cause the lift-off's been a bust Oh Papa's gone and Mama's dead And buried in my rocket dust You're alone now for the first time Don't worry 'cause that's all right All fear will completely disappear Come the Arabian Night Well the soundman smiles and turns the dials To set the meter readin' rising He pulls the singer's voice from out of his pocket To see if the audience likes it Oh and in the very first row sits sweet Jenny Rue With a bell on her shoe and she wants him to make it He flicks a switch but Jenny moves too fast And the audience sways to the sound of her shotgun blast The manager comes running out from behind stage and says Check the band's arms for bullet holes Make that man roll up his sleeves The drummer shoots himself with cyanide And then asks to be relieved And me, I say Well, it's too crazy in here Which is the stage door out I gotta get up tomorrow morning for work And the promoter says Man, once you're in they all lead out What's the matter man, ain't you heard There's a war going on on the outside And I'm paying you to sing like a bird So get in and get tough or get up and get out Because things aren't too tight I said "Don't worry man, everything's gonna loosen up Come the Arabian Night" Come the Arabian Night So I get back in my bed But outside my window I hear another gang fight It's Duke and the boys against the Devil's best man And both sides have drawn their knives And Duke he's a well known knife fighter And with one quick jab he brings the Devil down He smiles 'cause he knows there's a high bounty on Devils In any God-fearin' town Well they say Duke sold the Devil to some priest in Pennsylvania To exhibit on his altar Christmas Night But the Devil's eyes they still burn red with fire As long as Duke walks upright And he swears there's a going to be a showdown Come sundown on the Arabian night |
Notes
Demo recorded in 1972. Several takes are known. Never performed live.
Live history
"" has been performed live a total of times.
Release history
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