[00:48.052]Up on the white veranda
[00:50.529]She wears a necktie and a Panama hat.
[00:58.494]Her passport shows a face
[01:00.303]From another time and place
[01:02.334]She looks nothin' like that.
[01:06.804]And all the remnants of her recent past
[01:12.208]Are scattered in the wild wind.
[01:15.213]She walks across the marble floor
[01:17.470]Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in.
[01:22.427]She smiles, walks the other way
[01:26.510]As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
[01:31.386]From Black Diamond Bay.
[01:37.583]As the mornin' light breaks open, the Greek comes down
[01:41.219]And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write.
[01:46.238]"Pardon, monsieur," the desk clerk says,“
[01:49.610]Carefully removes his fez,
[01:51.825]"Am I hearin' you right?"“
[01:57.127]And as the yellow fog is liftin
[02:00.073]The Greek is quickly headin' for the second floor.
[02:04.950]She passes him on the spiral staircase
[02:07.693]Thinkin' he's the Soviet Ambassador,
[02:12.304]She starts to speak, but he walks away
[02:17.039]As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
[02:22.078]On Black Diamond Bay.
[02:27.726]A soldier sits beneath the fan
[02:30.407]Doin' business with a tiny man who sells him a ring.
[02:37.843]Lightning strikes, the lights blow out.
[02:40.017]The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout,
[02:42.293]"Can you see anything?"“
[02:47.107]Then the Greek appears on the second floor
[02:49.464]In his bare feet with a rope around his neck,
[02:55.173]While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle,
[02:59.643]
[03:02.162]But the dealer says, "Attendez-vous, s'il vous plait,'
[03:06.835]As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
[03:11.508]From Black Diamond Bay.
[03:17.359]The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
[03:19.838]As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough.
[03:26.746]He tried to grab the woman's hand,
[03:29.285]Said, "Here's a ring, it cost a grand."“
[03:31.907]She said, "That ain't enough."
[03:36.641]Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
[03:39.220]While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb.
[03:44.015]She passed the door that the Greek had locked,
[03:46.656]Where a handwritten sign read, "Do Not Disturb."
[03:51.207]She knocked upon it anyway
[03:55.962]As the sun went down and the music did play
[04:01.081]On Black Diamond Bay.
[04:06.648]"I've got to talk to someone quick!"“
[04:08.211]But the Greek said, "Go away," and he kicked the chair to the floor.
[04:16.238]He hung there from the chandelier.
[04:18.595]She cried, "Help, there's danger near
[04:21.014]Please open up the door!"
[04:25.829]Then the volcano erupted
[04:28.246]And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above.
[04:33.367]The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
[04:38.323]Thinking of forbidden love.
[04:41.228]But the desk clerk said, "It happens every day,"
[04:45.455]As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
[04:50.494]On Black Diamond Bay.
[04:55.836]As the island slowly sank
[04:58.458]The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room.
[05:04.553]The dealer said, "It's too late now.
[05:08.514]You can take your money, but I don't know how
[05:10.668]You'll spend it in the tomb."
[05:15.077]The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
[05:18.022]As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew,
[05:22.920]While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her,
[05:27.673]"My darling, je vous aime beaucoup."“
[05:30.234]She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
[05:34.906]As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
[05:39.620]From Black Diamond Bay.
[05:45.268]I was sittin' home alone one night in L.A.,
[05:48.641]Watchin' old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news.
[05:54.796]It seems there was an earthquake that
[05:57.458]Left nothin' but a Panama hat
[05:59.388]And a pair of old Greek shoes.
[06:04.833]Didn't seem like much was happenin',
[06:07.210]So I turned it off and went to grab another beer.
[06:11.984]Seems like every time you turn around
[06:14.605]There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
[06:19.380]And there's really nothin' anyone can say
[06:24.359]And I never did plan to go anyway
[06:29.214]To Black Diamond Bay.