Lyrics to
Zanzibar

This version of Zanzibar was released by Billy Joel in 1978.

Our Billy Joel Songs profile has Zanzibar lyrics from 1978 and most if not all of the lyrics by Billy Joel that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Billy Joel or about the 1970s in general.

Ali dances and the audience applauds
Though he’s bathed in sweat he hasn’t lost his style
Ali don’t you go downtown
You gave away another round for free

Me, I’m just another face at Zanzibar
But the waitress always serves a secret smile
She’s waiting out in Shantytown
She’s gonna pull the curtains down for me, for me

I’ve got the old man’s car
I’ve got a jazz guitar
I’ve got a tab at Zanzibar
Tonight that’s where I’ll be

Rose, he knows he’s such a credit to the game
But the Yankees grab the headline every time
Melodrama’s so much fun
In black and white for everyone to see
Me, I’m trying just to get to second base
And I’d steal it if she only gave the sign
She’s gonna give the go ahead
The inning isn’t over yet for me

I’ve got the old man’s car
I’ve got a jazz guitar
I’ve got a tab at Zanzibar
Tonight that’s where I’ll be

Tell the waitress I’ll come back to Zanzibar
I’ll be hiding in the darkness with my beer
She’s waiting out in Shantytown
She’s gonna pull the curtains down for me, for me

I’ve got the old man’s car
I’ve got a jazz guitar
I’ve got a tab at Zanzibar
Tonight that’s where I’ll be

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Billy Joel has released many songs over the years besides Zanzibar. Billy Joel released songs from 1971 to 1993 spanning across albums like Cold Spring Harbor, Piano Man, Streetlife Serenade, Turnstiles, The Stranger, 52nd Street, Glass Houses, The Nylon Curtain, An Innocent Man, The Bridge, Storm Front, and River Of Dreams. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Billy Joel.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Zanzibar by Billy Joel

The lyrics to Zanzibar are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Billy Joel used when the song was created in 1978. The lyrics to Zanzibar have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Billy Joel and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Zanzibar by Billy Joel. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Zanzibar" means the words set to the music of Zanzibar, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Billy Joel. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Zanzibar and the lyrics to Zanzibar are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Billy Joel who came here looking just for the lyrics to Zanzibar, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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