Martin Carthy - Hong Kong Blues lyrics

It's the story of a very unfortunate African 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 for to make the price Of a ticket to the land of the free He says his home's in Frisco where they send the rice But he's really from Tennessee And so 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 go home to San Francisco and happiness once again Won't someone believe, oh I yearn to see that Bay again But each time I try to leave, sweet opium won't let me fly away It's the story of a very unfortunate African 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