Tales of Odende
I was born in a little town in Ohio,
Folks there called it Napoleon.
I learned later he was a crazy French general.
I left Ohio barely 3 months old, yes I did.
Grandpa was mayor so on a dare I went to Mexico.
Too young to fly I had to bribe just to get on board,
And headed out to old Mexico, yeah!
Out to old Mexico.

Some years later, just a few I was in Africa,
I had hyenas laughing right outside the door.
You know the British there they had quite the colony,
They grew their coffee down in old Africa.
My friend Odende told me tales of brave Africa.
You know, I cried the day I went away from there.

Out of old Africa, oh,
Out of old Africa, yeah.

It took some years for me to get my balance back.
I searched to and fro, just like a son of man.
But then one day it came like a blinding flash,
I saw the Rainmaker, it seems he had my face,
Yeah, I saw my own face.
So I never went back to old Kyoto.
I headed up north to the old homestead,
I headed to the woods instead,
I headed to the old homestead, yes I did.

Mistakes were made, I left the woods, you know I should have stayed.
I plain forgot, I thought I'd find myself somewhere else.
We worked so hard to build a boat for our getaway.
But late one night way up north the boat it sank from sight.
Yes it sank right down.
Left with the bills, they said that we'd be all right.
It struck me then it must be time to get out of sight,
And head back to Africa, back to old Africa, yeah.