Walking around the happiest place in the world,
but all I do is wonder if your hair is still curled.
South of Brownsville, Texas, south of Miami beach
but all it means to me is that your further out of reach.

Everywhere is sand and sun, blue sky water too.
I..... I need you.

Spanish moss is hanging and you find a polished stone.
Pocket it for luck, and then you walk on alone.
They'll rent you a bicycle with the tires blown.
They'll cook you up a blackened fish, and strip it to the bone.
The slave ship just came in, I've been talking to the crew.
I...... I need you

In that house Hemingway is boxing in the back
I go to the library and check out all the facts.
Nowadays it's hard to write a line my own thoughts bore me
I found me an island kid who says he'll do it for me
I'm wiping all my tears away so no one has a clue
That I need you

The last plane out of Saigon did not know that it was
Every man in prison thinks he's locked up for a cause
I need something to do, my violin needs to sound
I'm going to see if Ernest wants to go a couple rounds
Sometimes you get lost, then you find something new
I need you

Some bird's flapping in the road on some crazy madman's string
Something's messed up with his wing, something's messed up with my everything

So here's the truth at last, I tell you, Hemingway is dead
And everybody wants to find a steak that's slightly red
I thought I could escape myself by just not getting dressed
I thought I could escape you by coming to Key West
Sometimes you get lost and you don't find something new
I need you