KAM-A-KU-RA
Type
Song
Composer
Rich & Marchant
Lyricist
Rich & Marchant
Copyright
1920
Publisher
Broadway Music Corporation, New York
Cover Artist
Mitchell
Notes
The geography defies comprehension: the Arabian moon over the Nile in the “Baltistan” desert is the home of Kamakura, Japanese place name given to a girl (or parts thereof). Is it coincidental that “sura” (a chapter of the Qur’an) is substituted for “sure a” in the chorus? In “My Castle on the Nile” by Johnson & Cole, the lovers will live “in elegant style,” but the demands of the rhyme scheme probably preclude any copying here.
Lyrics

In the land of Baltistan
Far across the desert sand
Beneath the Arabian moon
On the dreamy Nile soon
There I’ll linger awhile
I will take a caravan
That takes me o’er the desert sand
‘Cause that’s where I long to be
I know she waits for me
I’m going back there to see my little

CHORUS:
Kamakura with her sweet and pretty smile has sura
Funny Oriental style when she starts
In to shake her little Kam-ee, Kam-ee, Kam-ee Kamakura,
Bye and Bye I’ll
Build a castle on the Nile, then I will
Live in Oriental style with my sweet
Little Kamakura girl.
[Coda:]
And does she dance for me
Well you just ought to see
My little dancing girl.