[Verse 1]
Praying mantis on screen
Canoes prowl reef in early morning sun
As it flashes on the rhythmic fall of weed cutter's cutlass blade
Everybody's got something to sell
Besides the obvious dollars and dope
Aloe rub, starfish, vegetable patties
Braid your hair miss and bush doctor cures
Sudden angry eruption between aloe peddler
And man with property to protect
Muscular security guard with truncheon of twisted wire
"Kiss my blood clot" she hisses and they're enemies for life
In the beachfront bar they're playing reggae versions of
Jim Reeves' Greatest Hits
The waitress sings along
Eyes focused dreamily on that sentimental world

[Chorus]
And there's dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise

[Verse 2]
Blue green ship in turquoise bay
Swollen bauxite-red river rushing
Stream rising from feathered bamboo hills
Tracks once paved now falling away into deep lush valleys
And the farmed-out road contracts pass through so many hands
The print erodes with the weather-worn blacktop
And the jungle's always trying to reclaim the right of way
And the mangoes cacao turmeric goats soursop
Mushrooms cane plantains limes
Horses crayfish long-legged birds donkeys
Curved horns of cattle above dense grass
Ganja sensitive plant ackee
And some thorn whose prick brings lockjaw
And tires torn by sharp yellow rocks—
Young girl stares pensively from dark door in pale blue wall
Big About and friends at their crossroads bar
With its dirt corral for dancing
Drink soursop juice all day long
In quest of the perpetual stiff bamboo
[Chorus]
And there's dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise

[Verse 3]
Biggy Dread gunned down by police at Big Bridge March 16
Riding a mule cart to Sav-la-Mar
Pulled out a cutlass and they had to shoot
That's what they say
Something tells me they like to shoot
Something in the eyes of the ones at the road block
Where they searched the car
And tried to get us to confess to whatever
There's truncheons and gas down in Harbour Street
Typical response where life isn't so sweet
And somebody gets desperate enough to say so
Price of fish price of flour
Going up up up almost by the hour
And they throw away money on spectacular shows
To show the world the right likes the right music
And the Prime Minister sucks ice cream
In the company of a happy band of children
While a naked man, sores on his neck
Lies for days in Washington Boulevard gnawing chicken bones
And the Chamber of Commerce thinks there's too much crime
And there's a kung fu movie in every town
[Chorus]
And there's dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise
Dancing in paradise