Black Diamond Bay

Up on the white veranda She wears a necktie and a Panama hat. Her passport shows a face From another time and place She looks nothin' like that. And all the remnants of her recent past Are scattered in the wild wind. She walks across the marble floor Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in. She smiles, walks the other way As the last ship sails and the moon fades away From Black Diamond Bay. As the mornin' light breaks open, the Greek comes down And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write. "Pardon, monsieur," the desk clerk says Carefully removes his fez "Am I hearin' you right?" And as the yellow fog is liftin' The Greek is quickly headin' for the second floor. She passes him on the spiral staircase Thinkin' he's the Soviet Ambassador She starts to speak, but he walks away As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway On Black Diamond Bay. A soldier sits beneath the fan Doin' business with a tiny man who sells him a ring. Lightning strikes, the lights blow out. The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout "Can you see anything?" Then the Greek appears on the second floor In his bare feet with a rope around his neck While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle Says, "Open up another deck." But the dealer says, "Attendez-vous, s'il vous plait," As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away From Black Diamond Bay. The desk clerk heard the woman laugh As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough. He tried to grab the woman's hand Said, "Here's a ring, it cost a grand." She said, "That ain't enough." Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb. She passed the door that the Greek had locked Where a handwritten sign read, "Do Not Disturb." She knocked upon it anyway As the sun went down and the music did play On Black Diamond Bay. "I've got to talk to someone quick!" But the Greek said, "Go away," and he kicked the chair to the floor. He hung there from the chandelier. She cried, "Help, there's danger near Please open up the door!" Then the volcano erupted And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above. The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner Thinking of forbidden love. But the desk clerk said, "It happens every day," As the stars fell down and the fields burned away On Black Diamond Bay. As the island slowly sank The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room. The dealer said, "It's too late now. You can take your money, but I don't know how You'll spend it in the tomb." The tiny man bit the soldier's ear As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her "My darling, je vous aime beaucoup." She sheds a tear and then begins to pray As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away From Black Diamond Bay. I was sittin' home alone one night in L.A. Watchin' old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news. It seems there was an earthquake that Left nothin' but a Panama hat And a pair of old Greek shoes. Didn't seem like much was happenin' So I turned it off and went to grab another beer. Seems like every time you turn around There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear And there's really nothin' anyone can say And I never did plan to go anyway To Black Diamond Bay.