Lyrics to eden ahbez's album Eden's Island: The Music of an Enchanted Isle (1960)
The entire album is one in which eden claims to have found Eden’s Island long ago after much wandering and searching, and he’s never since left Eden’s Island. Everything in the place was right, and he knew he had found what he had been looking for.
He speaks much of loneliness, the thrill of loneliness and wandering, but also of looking for love and finding it. Many of the stories speak of the beach and the sea, one even of surfing. There’s also much talk of fresh fruit, walking barefoot, common Nature Boy imagery. And on the island, boys and girls fall in love, and make fires on the shore — love is all they live for.
1. Eden’s Island
Blow wind, blow
Ooooo Ooooo
Blow wind, blow
Eden’s Island way
I must go
Oooooo
The wind blows
Eden’s Island way
2. The Wanderer
The world is far
The world is wide
The man needs someone
By his side
The world is deep
The world is high
And no one knows
The reason why
The seasons come
The seasons go
The summer fruit
And the winter snow
But here we are
And here we stay
Until the time
To go away
All they say
Is a land that is great
And is grand, there’s no fear and no pain
We will all live again
And everyone will find the ones they love
All the world is far
The world is wide
The man needs someone
By his side
The world is deep
The world is high
And know one knows
The reason why
3. Myna Bird
instrumental
4. Eden’s Cove
Eden’s Island
Eden’s Home
Eden’s Home
Eden’s Island has a sandy cove
where boys and girls fall in love
they make fire on the shore
love is all they live for
Eden’s Island
Eden’s Home
Eden’s Home
Eden has a sandy cove
Boys and girls fall in love
they make fires on the shore
live is all they’re living for
Eden’s Island has a sandy cove
where boys and girls fall in love
they make fire on the shore
love is all they live for
Eden’s Island
Eden’s Home
Eden’s Home
Eden’s Home
5. Tradewind
instrumental
6. Full Moon
To live in an old shack by the sea
(And breathe the sweet salt air)
To live with the dawn and the dusk
The new moon and the full moon
The tides the wind and the rain...
To surf and comb the beach
And gather sea shells and drift-wood
And know the thrill of loneliness
And lose all sense of time
And be free
To hike over the island to the village
And visit the marketplace
And enjoy the music and the food and the people
And do a little trading
And see the great ships come and go
And, man, have me a ball
And in the evening
(When the sky is on fire)
Heaven and earth become my great open cathedral
Where all men are brothers
Where all things are bound by law
And crowned with love
Poor, alone and happy
I walk by the surf and make a fire on the beach
And as darkness covers the face of the deep
Lie down in the wild grass
And dream the dream that the dreamers dream
I am the wind, the sea, the evening star
I am everyone, anyone, no one.
7. Mongoose
Mongoose chase this snake away
Mongoose chase this snake away
We go barefoot every day
Mongoose chase this snake away
The island she have many snake
All around these sugar break
Then the mongoose come one day
Mongoose chase the snake away
chorus
The island boy has many fun
Keep the young girls on the run
Catch the girl, make them play
Mongoose chase the snake away
chorus
Mongoose chase this snake away
Mongoose chase this snake away
Catch the girl, make them play
Mongoose chase this snake away
8. Market Place
instrumental
9. Banana Boy
My, my banana
Grabbed from the tree
Bye my banana
And you make me happy
I have a hideaway
Down by the sea
That’s where the one I love
She waits for me
Bye my banana
Fresh from the tree
Bye my banana
And you make me happy
And you make me happy
Bye my banana
Fresh from the tree
Bye my banana
And you make me happy
And you make me happy
And you make me happy, happy
10. The Old Boat
instrumental
11. Island Girl
instrumental
12. La Mar
I had a little boat
(I called it Life)
Once I went out
And never came back.
All of a sudden
There was a big wind
And waves like mountains
Many things raced through my mind
And in the lonely chanting of the sea
I heard the echoes of eternity
And in the fantasy of cloud and sky
I saw the One who lives
While all things die
And I was swallowed by the sea
And lost in the deep
And washed up on the shore.
When I awakened
The storm was over
And the sea was calm
It was strange and wonderful
Like seeing the world
And seeing through the world.
[
on the liner notes, but not on the recording:
Like moving among the objects of the world
As though there were no objects to move among
As though there was no world
As though there was no mover
]
And when I told the people in the village
That I went out and never came back
They all laughed and called me The Wanderer
And I laughed with them
They didn’t know
They were the wanderers
And so I found my way
And found my home
on EDEN’S ISLAND
[
on the liner notes, but not on the recording:
(Many thing to many people)
Come and live the enchanted life
Where time becomes eternity
And you will become a beachcomber, a dreamer
and dream untellable dreams
And wander no more...
On EDEN’S ISLAND
]
Where the wind has been telling the truth
Forever and ever and ever
13. The Wanderer [alternate take]
1st two stanzas of earlier version
14. Surf Rider
Surf Rider
The song of the sea is sweet to me
The salt of the sea is sweet to me
The weight of the sea is the way for me
I comb the beach alone and free
When the sun goes BOOM in the morning sky
The surf goes BOOM and the waves are high
Where do I want to be
With the surf riders on the sea
When the wind is warm and the sea is wild
I will be Mother Nature’s child
Where do I want to be
With the surf riders on the sea
Surf Rider
