Once there was a Caliph
And he lived in old Bagdad
He led a most unhappy life,
Be-gum, Be-gosh, Be-gad
He couldn't sleep a wink at night,
He had two hundred wives
Who had to tell him stories,
Otherwise they lost their lives.
CHORUS:
Ah-Yah-Yah-Yah
So the first/next wife told her tale.
King Solomon, that wise old man,
He had a thousand wives
He bought an old sight-seeing bus
To take them all for drives
The bus broke down a thousand times,
Which made him Ha-Ha-Ha
For ev'ry time the bus broke down,
A wife went home to ma.
Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha
So the next wife told her tale.
Cleopatra was a gal
Who always got her man
She wooed a certain Emir
Who lived in Pakistan
She wore her most exotic gown
She thought it would convince,
It did all right--He put it on
She hasn't seen him since.
Ah-Yah-Yah-Yah,
So the next wife told her tale.
Abdullah had a little lamp,
He swapped it for a camel
He didn't like its color
So he daubed it with enamel
The hot sun melted all the paint
While crossing the Sahara
He can't get off because the paint
Has stuck to his "Ta Ra Ra."
Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom-de-Ay,
So the next wife told her tale.
Once there was a plumber
And he left behind his tools
I've heard that plumbers do it,
For plumbers are no fools
He fell into the cistern
And when his mate returned
It took three years to get him out,
What over-time he earned.
Ah-Yah-Yah-Yah,
So the next wife told her tale.
There was a Persian Pasha
And he went to Tennessee
To find himself a nice young bride,
As young as she could be.
He almost blew his turban
Till he found his chosen one
The preacher held the service
And her pappy held the gun.
Ah-Yah-Yah-Yah,
So the last wife told her tale.