Well with buckshot eyes and a purple heart
I rolled down the national stroll
With a big fat paycheck strapped to my hip sack
And a shore leave wristwatch underneath my sleeve
In a Hong Kong drizzle on Cuban heels
I rowed down the gutter to the blood bank
And I'd left all my papers on the Ticonderoga
And I was in bad need of a shave
I slopped at the corner on cold chow mein
And shot billiards with a midget until the rain stopped
And I bought a long-sleeved shirt with horses on the front
And some gum and a lighter and a knife
And a new deck of cards with girls on the back
And I sat down and wrote a letter to my wife

And I said, "Baby, I'm so far away from home
And I miss my baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so"

Well I was pacing myself, trying to make it all last
Squeezing all the life out of a lousy two-day pass
And I had a cold one at the Dragon with some Filipino floor show
And I talked baseball with a lieutenant over a Singapore Sling
And I wondered how the same moon outside over this Chinatown fair
Could look down on Illinois and find you there
And you know I love you, baby
I'm so far away from home
I'm so far away from home
And I miss my baby so
I can't make it by myself
I love you so

Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave
Shore leave