Jimmy Buffett - Somewhere Over China lyrics

Somewhere Over China

By: Jimmy Buffett

1981

For the Crazy Flying Tigers

Just a semi-normal person

Thought he had the future planned

Then he won some silly sweepstakes

Now he had a hundred grand

Never stopped to think of taxes

He was gone before they knew

With a flair for ol' romantics

To the Orient he flew

When they fueled in Papeete

Placed a call to Big Mamou

With an honest explanation

Just to tell the whole damn truth

It's his one chance in a million

Who'd deny the simple fact

'Twas no use to talk it over

He'd be home when he got back

Chorus:

Now he's somewhere over China

Lookin' down on all the trails

On the mountains lookin' back at him

It's a real live fairy tale

Put a little distance

Between causes and effects

Like a day old fortune cookie

Askin' who or what comes next

What the hell did Marco Polo think

When he ran into the wall

Or the crazy Flying Tigers

Doin' spins and loops and stalls

Just a taste for somethin' different

Perking up a borin' day

Now our man from Louisiana

Feels exactly the same way

Chorus:

They're all somewhere over China

Shanghai or old Peking

On a plane or a boat in an envelope

Real adventure has its ring

Just to put a little distance

Between fact and fantasy

Still six thousand miles away from

Where I'd really rather be

How I would love to drive the shuttle

Just to feel the engines roar

And to operate the levers

That control the payload doors

I could buzz the Himalayas

Barrel roll above Hong Kong

Set her down in San Francisco

To the clangin' of a gong

Chorus:

We're all somewhere over China

Headin' east or headin' west

Takin' time to live a little

Flyin' so far from the nest

Just to put a little distance

Between causes and effects

Like an ancient fortune teller

Knowin' who and what comes next