I'm lying on a white hot blanket
wishing you were here
we're a thousand miles from Cairo
and it's taken us a year to get this far

Dear Mother
I've grown a beard in the last three weeks
and I can't see nothing but sand
you wouldn't recognize me Mother
but I know you'd understand

Dear Mother
we spend the nights under canvas
dreaming of ice cold beer
and we spend the days in the desert
I miss you Mother dear

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)

Dear Mother
we found the Ten Commandments, Mother
just like I said we would
but somebody broke our compass, Mother
and the water is no good

And Beau said it was sabotage
so I laughed at him and said
Mother wouldn't let that happen, Beau
but Beau was dead

So I left him in the sand dunes
and I struck out on my own
with a page of hieroglyphics
and the tablets of stone

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)

Dear Mother
they attacked while I was sleeping
dreaming of ice cold beer
but when they saw what I was carrying
they backed away in fear

They said the hand of God is upon you
it is written on the wall, dear Mother
they must have thought I was Elijah or something
with the beard and all!

So they led me down to the catacombs
the walls were lined with bones
and a voice said he'd give me three of his wives
for just a glimpse of the stones

Dear Mother
I said that I had lost them
they were buried in the shifting sands
but they said if I didn't give them the tablets
they'd cut off both of my hands, Mother

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?) dear Mother
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?) Mother

Dear Mother
I'm running out of water, Mother
the map was a fake
now I'm stuck on the Devil's anvil, Mother
payin' for Beau's mistake

I woke up in a sandstorm
I'd had a terrible dream
I'd broken the Ten Commandments, Mother
I began to scream

But something else was out there
following the scent
and it cast the shadow of a cobra
on the walls of the tent

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)

Dear Mother
I hadn't got a rifle
or a dagger or a sword
so my only other weapon
as the word of the Lord

So when it wrapped itself around my body
and it started crushing bones
I had to make a decision, Mother
it was me or the stones

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)

Dear Mother
I'm lying on a white hot blanket
wishing you were here
I'm a thousand miles from Cairo
and it's taken me a year to get this far
to get this far

Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape?)
Riding on Joey's camel
(how did you escape