Well, now, Billy Voltaire was a piano player up from Miami way He used to play in the bars, he could sound like the stars Ladies would pay and pay One night he did wind up playin' in Havana town Nobody knew, least Billy Voltaire that these were his final sounds He met up with Meritta, a dancer in from the Coast Half woman, half child, she drove him half wild He loved that lady the most One night he did find her in the arms of Shrimper Dan So he pulled a knife, took poor Danny's life And then he turned his own cold hand Chorus: And it's just a Cuban crime of passion Messy and old fashioned Yeah, that's what the papers did say It's just a Cuban crime of passion Anjejo and knives a slashin' Yeah but that's what the people like to read about Up in America, up in America Well now they never found Meritta, some people say she got ill Billy Voltaire had no one to claim him, he was buried on pauper's hill And no one talks about 'em no more, it happened just a week ago But people get by and people get high In the tropics they come and they go Chorus