Lyrics to Hong Kong Blues


Many people mention Hong Kong Blues sung at the end of the first act. Here are the lyrics:

It's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got arrested down in old Hong Kong
He got twenty years' privilege taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong

And now he's poppin' the piano just to raise the
price
Of a ticket to the land of the free
Well, he says his home's in 'Frisco where they
send the rice
But it's really in Tennessee

That's why he says
I need someone to love me
Need somebody to carry me home to San
Francisco
And bury my body there
I need someone to lend me a fifty-dollar bill
and then
I'll leave Hong Kong far behind me
For happiness once again

Won't somebody believe
I've a yen to see that Bay again
Everytime I try to leave
Sweet opium won't let me fly away
I need someone to love me
Need somebody to carry me home to San
Francisco
And bury my body there

That's the story of a very unfortunate coloured man
Who got arrested down in old Hong Kong
He got twenty years' privilege taken away from him
When he kicked old Buddha's gong.

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Junior Brown does a cool version of this song.

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George Harrison covered the song as well decades later.
Bit of trivia: "Kicking the gong" was slang for smoking opium. This obsolete term was also used by Cab Calloway in "Minnie the Moocher".

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There's also a good version by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick on their album "Signs of Life".

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