Bruce Cockburn Dancing In Paradise Lyrics

Dancing In Paradise Lyrics

Praying mantis on screen Canoes prowl reef in early morning sun As it flashes on
the rhythmic fall of weed cutter's cutlass blade Everybody's got something to
sell besides the obvious dollars and dope Aloe rub, starfish, vegetable
patties, braid your hair miss and bush doctor cures Sudden angry eruption
between aloe peddler and man with property to protect Muscular security guard
with truncheon of twisted wire "Kiss my blood clot" she hisses and they're
enemies for life In the beach front bar they're playing reggae versions of Jim
Reeves' Greatest Hits The waitress sings along, eyes focused dreamily on that
sentimental world and there's Dancing in Paradise... 



Blue green
ship in turquoise bay Swollen bauxite-red river rushing Stream rising from
feathered bamboo hills Tracks once paved now falling away into deep lush
valleys And the farmed-out road contracts pass through so many hands The print
erodes with the weather-worn blacktop And the jungle's always trying to reclaim
the right of way And the mangoes cacao turmeric goats soursop Mushrooms cane
plantains limes Horses crayfish long-legged birds donkeys Curved horns of
cattle above dense grass Ganja sensitive plant ackee And some thorn whose prick
brings lockjaw And tires torn by sharp yellow rocks -- Young girl stares
pensively from dark door in pale blue wall Big About and friends at their
crossroads bar With its dirt corral for dancing Drink soursop juice all day
long In quest of the perpetual stiff bamboo And there's Dancing in Paradise...




Biggy Dread gunned down by police at Big Bridge March 16 Riding a
mule cart to Sav-la-Mar pulled out a cutlass and they had to shoot That's what
they say Something tells me they like to shoot Something in the eyes of the
ones at the road block Where they searched the car and tried to get us to
confess to whatever... There's truncheons and gas down in Harbou