Old Bugis Street was quite a sight
With acetylene lamps burning bright
Tables and chairs from end to end
Where you could meet and greet a friend
And order food from any stall
Those cooks all at your beck and call
Sharks Fin Soup, Thousand Year Eggs
And strange things done to chicken legs
Nasi Goreng, satay, saffron rice
Octopus and Tiger Prawns so nice
Tiger beer and Anchor too
San Miguel, now there's a brew
So when all the bars of Singapore
Switched off their lights and locked the door
You could still eat and drink all night
And Bugis Street set my heart alight
There were Lady-boys and Chinese Whores
And sailors in from foreign shores
Bush pilots resting from their flights
And soldiers resting from their fights
Rubber tappers from Malaya way
Tin miners down in town to stay
And spotless children playing tic-tac-toe
And winning - watch your money go
There'd be smugglers resting from the sea
And traders in from far Araby
Ginseng dealers trading fair
You'd find all sorts of commerce there
Gun runners just in from the isles
Soldiers from the rank and files
Young ladies from the Embassies
Doing just about what they please
Pirates, pimps and taxi drivers
Royal Marines and pearl divers
All the flotsam of a great sea port
Gathered there to take their sport
Family and friends would come and meet
Right there in what was Bugis Street
Bulldozed now - and it don't seem right
For Bugis Street was my delight
Words Copyright © Res JFB 29th September 2012
Photographs borrowed from the web. If they offend any copyright
contact me and I shall remove them