Song Description

Imagine Leonard Cohen doing a Steely Dan song about a hapless wannabe drug dealer over his head doing a drug deal in Colombia.

Lyrics

Bogota

Four thousand miles away from home
Pacing up and down a hotel room
Waiting for the telephone to ring
Watching Univision all afternoon
I got a suitcase full of unmarked thousand dollar bills
I got plenty of money and time to kill
In Bogota

Nobody knows my name
I'm just another businessman
Another pawn in the game
Just another one night stand
Gonna pick up some merchandise in Bogota
I gotta meet this guy named Hector in the hotel bar
In Bogota

I'm a fugitive from the law
A face without a name
Trapped in a hotel room
A prisoner of the cocaine game
This has gone too far
I know I'm in too deep
Totally out of control
These crazy bastards play for keeps

Suddenly the telephone rings
He says he'll meet me in the bar
We smoke cigars over drinks
Then we climb into this big black car
The bodyguard ties a blindfold around my head
Either I cut this deal or I wind up dead
In Bogota

We finally make the trade
The suitcase for a solid rock
I leave to catch my plane
I'm a little shaky as I walk
One more day and I'll be an honest man
Making plans to execute another scam
In Bogota

Repeat Chorus

It's got to end someday
I'm gonna make a big mistake
They'll just blow me away
They'll throw my body in some lake
Easy money, oh, how fast it goes
And what becomes of me, no one knows
In Bogota

I'm a fugitive from the law
A face without a name
And a bullet inside my brain
A victim of the cocaine game
Things just went too far
And I got in too deep
It's totally out of control
These crazy bastards play for keeps

Words & Music © 1990 by Doug Harvey