To mark the occasion of my finally looking up the lyrics to Rock the Casbah, here are the words I've been hearing for the last quarter of a century-ish.
The king told the boogie-man
You have to let that rocker drown
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin' to the top
The Shaky drove his cadillac
He went a cruisin' down the ville
The poison was a-standing
On the radiator grille
Shari, he don't like it
Rockin' the casbah
Rock the casbah
By order of the prophet
Ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the something something brought out
Electric something drum
The local guitar picker
Lost his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the Shari
Had cleared the square
They began to wail
Now over at the temple
They really pack 'em in
The in-crowd say it's cool
To dig this jumping thing
But as the wind changed direction
The temple band caught fire
The crowd caught a whiff
Of that crazy Casbah CHILD!!!
The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way
As soon as the Shari had
Shuffled outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio there
As soon as the Shari was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed
Thinks it's not culture!
Fundamental incar-something!
You know he really hates it!