Standard (EADGBE)

Verse 1

Ramadan is over, the new moon's shown her face,

 I'm half way around the planet in a most unlikely place.

 Following my song line past bamboo shacks and shops,

 Behind the chimney packed like sardines with bananas piled on top.

 I've ran away from politics that's too bizarre at home,

 The way I flew too in the 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 boys tease girls,

 I'm headin' out this morning for thefar side of the world.

Verse 2

 Oh I believe in song lines, obvious and not,

 I've ridden them like camels to some most peculiar spots.

 They run across the oceans, through mountains and saloons,

 Tonight out to the desert where I sit atop this dune.

 I was destined for this vantage point, though so far from the sea,

 I've lived it in the pages from Saint-Equerry.

 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!

Verse 3

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.

It 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.

Yes, that's the way it happens on the Far Side of the World.