Well with buck shot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
and with a big fat paycheck

strapped to my hip sack
and a shore leave wristwatch underneath
my sleeve

in a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the Blood Bank
and I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga

and was in a bad need of a shave
and so I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
and shot billards with a midget

until the rain stopped
and I bought a long sleeved shirt
with horses on the front

and some gum and a lighter and a knife
and a new deck of cards (with girls on the back)
and I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife


and I said Baby, I'm so far away from home
and I miss my Baby so

I can't make it by myself
I love you so


Well I was pacing myself
trying to make it all last
squeezing all the life

out of a lousy two day pass
and I had a cold one at the Dragon
with some Filipino floor show

and talked baseball with a lieutenant
over a Singapore sling
and I wondered how the same moon outside

over this Chinatown fair
could look down on Illinois
and find you there

and you know I love you Baby

and I'm so far away from home

and I miss my Baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so


Shore Leave...
Shore Leave...