Up on the white veranda
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She wears a necktie and a Panama hat
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Her passport shows another face
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From another time and place
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She looks nothing like that
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And all the remnants of her recent past
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Are scattered in the wild wind
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She walks across the marble floor
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Where a voice from the gambling room is calling her to come on in
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She smiles, walks the other way
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As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
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From Black Diamond Bay.
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As the morning light breaks open the Greek comes down
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And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
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"Pardon monsieur" the desk clerk says
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Carefully removes his fez
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"Am I hearing you right ?"
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And as the yellow fog is lifting
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The Greek is quickly heading for the second floor
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She passes him on the spiral staircase
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Thinking he's the Sovjet Ambassador
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She starts to speak, but he walks away
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As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches away
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On Black Diamond Bay.
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A soldier sits beneath the fan
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Doing business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
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Lightning strikes, the light blow out
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The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
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"Can you see anything ?"
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Then the Greek appears on the second floor
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In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
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While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
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Says "Open up another deck"
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But the dealer say "Attendez-vous, s'il vous pl it"
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As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
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From Black Diamond Bay.
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The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
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As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
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He tried to grab the woman's hand
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Said, "Here's a ring it cost a grand"
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She said, "That ain't enough"
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Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
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While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
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She passed the door that the Greek had locked
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Where a handwritten sign read, "Do not disturb"
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She knocked on it anyway
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As the sun went down and the music did play
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On Black Diamond Bay.
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"I've got to talk to someone quick !"
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But the Greek said, "Go away" and he kicked the chair to the floor
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He hung there from the chandelier
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She cried, "Help there's danger near
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Please open op the door"
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Then the volcano erupted
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And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
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The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
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Thinking of forbidden love
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But the desk clerk said "It happens every day"
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As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
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On Black Diamond Bay.
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As the island slowly sank
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The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
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The dealer said "It's too late now
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You can take you money, but I don't know how
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You'll spend it in the tomb"
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The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
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As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basemen blew
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While she's out on the balcony where a stranger tell her
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"My darling je vous aime beacoup"
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She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
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As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
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From Black Diamond Bay.
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I was siting home alone one night in LA
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Watching old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news
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It seems there was an earthquake that
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Left nothing but a Panama hat
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And a pair of old Greek shoes
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Didn't seem like much was happening
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So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
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Seems like every time you turn around
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There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
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And there's really nothing anyone can say
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And I never did plan to go anyway
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To Black Diamond Bay.
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-----------------
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Black Diamond Bay
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Bob Dylan |