Lyrics

It was ninety miles to freedom but they took the risk
Though the ocean was all motion and the wind was brisk
The deadly gunboats never saw them in the pale moonlight
They were off to Cayo Hueso by the dawns early light
The gringo in the garden called the customs man
They answered all his questions, were allowed to land
The ladies shared a hairbrush and their husbands had a coke
Then they were taken up to Krome to meet with their kin folk

Everybody’s got a cousin in Miami
Everybody understands the impromptu
Dancing in the heat to the beat
That turns your clothing clammy
Everybody needs to have a dream come true

In a third world jungle not so far away
Lives a natural drummer with a dream to play
He’s the brother of the lizard and the flying fish
But he’s been enchanted by the pictures from the satellite dish
So his mama packs his bags, knots his red neck tie
Sends him north to her relations with a kiss good-bye
He’s bewildered by the plane ride and the immigration line
Until he sees his Christian name upon a cardboard sign

Everybody’s got a cousin in Miami
Everybody is an Aborigine
Dancing in the heat to the beat
That turns your clothing clammy
Everybody wants to win that lottery

It’s hard to believe the city started as a trading post
Home to the Seminole, pirate and pioneer
Between the river of grass and the old mosquito coast
Before the railroad claimed the southernmost frontier

I am umbilically connected to the temperate zone
It brought me life, it brought me love
I never have outgrown
It brought me one too many nights along that Biscayne shore
And one too many mornings in the Grove Drug Store
In one way or the other we’re all refugees
Living out this easy life below the banyan trees
Smoothing off the rougher edges of the culture clash
We got a style, we got a look
We got that old panache

Everybody’s got a cousin in Miami
Everybody is an Aborigine
Dancing in the heat to the beat
That turns your clothing clammy
Everybody wants to win that lottery