John Cale - Maps of the World lyrics

rate me

May I help you, sir?

Yes, I'd like to buy a map, please.

What kind of map?

As up-to-date as possible, I'm thinking of doing a bit of travelling and I need the latest world atlas.

I'm sorry but we may be in a bit of trouble there. All the maps are changing so rapidly it's difficult to follow these days since the East has returned to the dance floor.

Yes, I sense a loss of asimuth here, a falling off the edge of the world as we know it, a scattering of temples, a wish for a more modern [Cairo], a more [devisive] equator, a more beautiful sunset, a bluer sky, tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight. Gabon, Zaire, Congo, Rwanda. I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight. Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Tansania.

The world changes partners to dance. Poor Libya, so misunderstood. The mighty Zambezi, the windblown Kalahari, a wish for a more electronic mailbox, a more African nightmare, a more vigorous Burundi, Mozambique Electronique, the armies of Namibia. Angola, who is your Cuba now? Changed partners, the world wants to dance.

I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight. Somalia, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Togo. I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight.

Tothigua, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Western Sahara.

The maidens of Morocco, Burkina Faso the riches of Liberia, a stranger symbolism, a sand-storm of antiquities, a more beautiful sunset, a sparser continent, a bluer sky, a more disturbing rhythm, an angrier drum-beat.

I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight. Estonia, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Nashville. Changed partners again, changed partners just for the night.

Ankara, Enseno and Madrid, Twin Cities, Reno.

I'm leaving for home, leaving for home tonight. Inuit, Rome, Vancouver.

Changed partners again, changed partners just for the night. Afghanistan, Sardinia, Peru. Changed partners again, changed partners just for the night.

Columbia, Argentina, France, Syria, Catalan, Oslo.