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.