On a Desert Isle

I drifted in the Doldrums, almost dead,

A weedy, watery, trail,

With a useless rag, hangin above my head,

Not a breath o' breeze to fill my sail,

Then liftin' up my spyglass, ol' Buckley's hope,

I seen somethin' o'er the waves,

I throwed my things,

I left my boat,

And swam out on my way.

On a Desert Isle,

Here I sing, oh-de-lee-ee-oh-de-lay-ee,

Soft an' sweet

Got no shirt or shoes upon my feet,

Out in the middle of an o-o-ocean,

Doin' my thing,

I'm happy just to dream, and sing,

Out livin' like a marabout king,

Out on a Desert Isle

The shadin' palm trees bend an' sway,

The fish swim 'bout my feet,

And a breeze blowin' soft 'pon the cordgrass play,

A lazy old melody, cool an' sweet,

As the sun goes sinkin' in a painted sky,

My eye's on a pool of light,

Where the stars cast a twinklin' veil on high,

Where I sleep out everynight...

One mornin' the silence broke,

As beset by a sea high-horned in waves I awoke,

To find no remnants of that paradise,

What laid about me, were a changed, unfriendly land,

From beyond the compass' reach,

I sings this song of water an' dune,

Of wonders strange,

Out of the gloom, there came a sound like cryin' in the night,

My blue ruined eyes I thought lied,

A woman draggin' up, out of that squawlin' tide.

On a desert isle,

Oh-de-lee-oh-oh-de-lay-ee, tired an' beat,

Writin' help, in letters fifteen feet,

Out on the beach, beside an o-o-ocean,

Woe is me, a cryin baby bouncin' on my knee,

In a little grass shack built for three,

Out on a Desert Isle.