Ahab The Arab - Lyrics

Lyrics

The song portrays a "sheik of the burning sands" named Ahab. He is highly decorated with jewelry, and every night he hops on his camel named Clyde on his way to see Fatima, who is the best dancer in the Sultan's harem. Fatima is described with a modified quote from the 1909 hit, "I've Got Rings On My Fingers": "with rings on her fingers and bells on her toes and a bone in her nose, ho ho". During the ride, Ahab "speaks" (actually, sings/chants in a pseudo Middle Eastern style) in mock Arabic. (A later version adds the advertising catch phrase "Sold, American!" to the end of one chant.)

When Ahab finds Fatima in her tent, she is "eating on a raisin, grape, apricot, pomegranate, bowl of chitterlings, two bananas, three Hershey bars, sipping on an ice cold RC Co-Cola, listenin' to her transistor, watchin' the Grand Ole Opry on the tube, readin' a Mad Magazine while she sung, 'Does your chewing gum lose its flavor?'".

The second time that Ahab speaks in his phony Arabic chant, the translation is, "Let's twist again like we did last summer, baby!"--a line from a song by Chubby Checker.

Ahab loves Fatima, which apparently doesn't sit too well with the Sultan, and later prompts an escape attempt, which does succeed, because Clyde was the fastest camel in the desert, and they "lived happily ever after". (The later version neglects to mention the escape attempt at all, instead ending the song with Fatima saying, "Crazy, baby!")