As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basement blew
It seems there was an earthquake that
A soldier sits beneath the fan
I was sittin' home alone one night in L.A.
Another time and place
But the desk clerk said, "It happens every day"
There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
As the storm clouds rise and the palm branches sway
Said, "Here's a ring, it cost a grand"
She said, "That ain't enough"
Left nothin' but a Panama hat
While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
Where a voice from the gambling room is callin' her to come on in
Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
Carefully removes his fez
In his bare feet with a rope around his neck
Watchin' old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news
"My darling, je vous aime beaucoup"
"Am I hearin' you right?"
As the sun went down and the music did play
Then the volcano erupted
As the rain beats down and the cranes fly away
As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
Then the Greek appears on the second floor
She cried, "Help, there's danger near
Where a handwritten sign read, "Do not disturb"
She starts to speak, but he walks away
As the last ship sails and the moon fades away
He tried to grab the woman's hand
She passes him on the spiral staircase
Doin' business with a tiny man who sells him a ring
The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
Seems like every time you turn around
As the island slowly sank
Didn't seem like much was happenin'
You can take your money, but I don't know how
And as the yellow fog is liftin'
And he asks for a rope and a pen that will write
On Black Diamond Bay
And all the remnants of her recent past
I've got to talk to someone quick
And I never did plan to go anyway
She passed the door that the Greek had locked
On Black Diamond Bay
The desk clerk wakes and begins to shout
She knocked upon it anyway
Are scattered in the wild wind
As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
But the Greek said, "Go away" and he kicked the chair to the floor
But the dealer says, "Attendez-vous, s'il vous plait"
Lightning strikes, the lights blow out
The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
Thinkin' he's the Soviet Ambassador
She smiles, walks the other way
As the mornin' light breaks open, the Greek comes down
While a loser in the gambling room lights up a candle
Her passport shows a face from
"Can you see anything?"
The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
She looks nothin' like that
And there's really nothin' anyone can say
The Greek is quickly headin' for the second floor
From Black Diamond Bay
He hung there from the chandelier
And a pair of old Greek shoes
From Black Diamond Bay
Please open up the door!"
She walks across the marble floor
Says, "Open up another deck"
"Pardon, monsieur," the desk clerk says
From Black Diamond Bay
So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
Thinking of forbidden love
As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
The dealer said, "It's too late now
On Black Diamond Bay
While she's out on the balcony, where a stranger tells her
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
You'll spend it in the tomb"
