Today.

2002.

The Far Side of the World

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 that 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 desert
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
They 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
2-0-0-1 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

Jimmy Buffett