[Silence]
[Arrangement: Wry, swinging climate-cabaret with a jaunty travel-movie bounce, comic call-and-response, and a chorus that keeps tripping over the disappearing map]
[Intro]
Pack your bags
(Or what’s left to tote)
Grab your hat
(And miss the boat)
Follow signs
(Through the bizarre)
That don’t quite lead
(To Zanzibar)
[Verse 1]
Bing brought charm
(And Bob brought Hope)
But these days Hope
(Can barely cope)
The beach keeps shrinking
(At the hotel bar)
And salt creeps inland
(From the shore so far)
Seaweed farmers
(Lose their yield)
Fish head deeper
(From the field)
Coral’s paling
(Under stress)
And the map looks more
(Like a guess)
[Chorus]
The thing
(About Bing)
He has no Hope
(Nope)
The thing
(About Hope)
He can’t help cope
(Nope)
The thing
(About this show)
The road keeps washing
(Out below)
[Refrain]
No, this ain’t the road
(To Zanzibar)
The road doesn’t go…
(that far)
Do you even know…
(Where you are?)
No, this ain’t the road
(To Zanzibar)
The tide came through
(And took the car)
[Verse 2]
Rice fields brine up
(Freshwater’s gone)
Storm drains back up
(All night long)
Rain comes hard
(Then not at all)
Drought, then flood
(That’s the curtain call)
Tour boats idle
(Reefs turn white)
Hotels worry
(About next night)
And every season
(Feels off-key)
Like somebody moved
(The whole damn sea)
[Bridge]
Roadside sign says
(Scenic route)
Wave comes in
(And knocks it out)
You can joke
(And crack a line)
Till the shoreline slips
(Beyond design)
This isn’t just
(A travel gag)
It’s a living place
(Dragged by the drag)
Of hotter seas
(And rising stress)
And a road that leads
(To less and less)
[Instrumental]
[Swing guitar break]
[Comic horn stabs]
[Percussion splash]
[Breakdown]
Wrong turn here
(Wrong turn there)
No more beach
(Just thinner air)
Wrong turn here
(Wrong turn there)
Try to drive
(But beware)
[Final Chorus]
The thing
(About Bing)
He has no Hope
(Nope)
The thing
(About Hope)
He lost his sting
(End of the rope)
The thing
(About Zanzibar)
The road keeps sinking
(Where you are)
[Final Refrain]
No, this ain’t the road
(To Zanzibar)
The road doesn’t go…
(that far)
Do you even know…
(Where you are?)
No, this ain’t the road
(To Zanzibar)
[Outro]
Pack your bags
(Or what’s left to tote)
Grab your hat
(And miss the boat)
About the Song
“The Road to…” series consists of seven wildly popular musical comedy films. They starred the iconic duo Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, alongside leading lady Dorothy Lamour. The films are famous for their exotic settings, fourth-wall-breaking gags, and improvised, rapid-fire banter.
Road to Zanzibar (1941) – An African safari adventure parody.
Soon, there may be no road to Zanzibar.
Zanzibar is already being hit hard by climate change, with major risks to its blue economy and to the livelihoods of much of the population. Because the islands depend heavily on tourism, fishing, and agriculture, rising seas, hotter waters, and more erratic rainfall are damaging multiple sectors at once.
* Coastal erosion and sea-level rise are washing away beaches, damaging hotels and shoreline infrastructure, and pushing saltwater into freshwater aquifers and low-lying farmland.
* Marine livelihoods are under pressure as warmer shallow waters hurt seaweed farming through disease, fish move farther offshore into cooler waters, and coral reefs suffer bleaching and acidification—undermining both fisheries and tourism.
* Agriculture is becoming less reliable because of drought, irregular rainfall, and flooding, which reduce crop yields and threaten food security.
* Flooding is worsening in both villages and urban areas as heavy rain and high tides overwhelm drainage and damage homes, roads, and public infrastructure.
From the album “Displacement“