It was ninety miles to freedom but they took the risk
Though the ocean was all motion and the wind was brisk
The deadly gunboats never saw them in the pale moonlight

They were off to Cayo Hueso by the dawns early light
The gringo in the garden called the customs man
They answered all his questions, were allowed to land

The ladies shared a hairbrush and their husbands had a !@%!e
Then they were taken up to Krome to meet with their kin folk


[Chorus:]
Everybody's got a cousin in Miami
Everybody understands the impromptu

Dancing in the heat to the beat
That turns your clothing clammy
Everybody needs to have a dream come true


In a third world jungle not so far away
Lives a natural drummer with a dream to play

He's the brother of the lizard and the flying fish
But he's been enchanted by the pictures
From the satellite dish

So his mama packs his bags, knots his red neck tie
Sends him north to her relations with a kiss good-bye
He's bewildered by the plane ride and the immigration line

Until he sees his Christian name upon a cardboard sign

Everybody's got a cousin in Miami

Everybody is an Aborigine
Dancing in the heat to the beat
That turns your clothing clammy

Everybody wants to win that lottery

It's hard to believe the city started as a trading post

Home to the Seminole, pirate and pioneer
Between the river of grass and the old mosquito coast
Before the railroad claimed the southernmost frontier


I am umbilically connected to the temperate zone
It brought me life, it brought me love

I never have outgrown
It brought me one too many nights along that Biscayne shore
And one too many mornings in the Grove Drug Store

In one way or the other we're all refugees
Living out this easy life below the banyan trees
Smoothing off the rougher edges of the culture clash

We got a style, we got a look
We got that old panache


[Chorus]