[Verse 1]
Midafternoon, high summer
On the island’s southern shore
Just you and your boy Zorba
Going where the water’s warm
Where the sea’s a desolation
It ain’t much better than the land
And any trace of civilisation
Has been long buried in the sand

[Refrain]
Like waves on thirsty beaches
Where goats with human faces
And the skeletons of horses
They roam the fourth dimension

[Verse 2]
Long before anyone drank hemlock
Long before anyone got nailed up
Two afternoons that reign ‘cause they were forever going to pains
Tryin’ make their names tearing each other up
This morn you woke and spoke of dreaming
About two endless afternoons
Well I feel old by hotel pools
But in the future I’ll be history
Though I’m happy going anywhere you choose
[Refrain]
The sea, the sky, your dreaming eyes
And a heat that won’t let up
I hear someone say “I see the coast of Africa from here”
But you’re asleep or you don’t bother looking up

[Verse 3]
They said that later on there’d be a party on the beach
I look around me now and I can see it’s still at large
I would not hold them to their promises
‘cause this could all be a mirage
We used to dive down to the bottom
Way out beyond the shore
But something’s changed
Where, what, how, when?
I do not really think I wanna know about
What’s down there anymore

[Bridge]
Well the last time we went down there
I was not feeling very good
But you could always hold your breath
A whole lot longer than I could

[Verse 4]
Well of course you’d go a long way in a short time
If you felt that’s what you wanted
You’ve only gotta back yourself for once
But me I’m trying to enjoy two afternoons under the dunes
Though all I’ve made’s a detailed survey of the surface of the sun
[Refrain]
Just say from this day forward
You won’t ever look behind
And everything that you believe in
It just depends on what you find