Ahab the Arab

This novelty song is about a "sheik of the burning sands" named Ahab. Every night he hops on his camel named Clyde on his way to see Fatima, who is the best dancer in the Sultan's harem. Ahab's visits with Fatima don't sit well with the Sultan, and the two end up escaping on Clyde, and living happily ever after.

Asked by NashvilleGab if he's ever received any criticism for the song, Stevens replied: "When I was a kid, my mom gave me a book called Arabian Nights, and I wrote the song just from information I learned outta that book. You know, the book talked about Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves and 'open sesame' and, you know, all the fun stuff that is in that book." "And so I thought, I'll write a [song] about this guy, and he's messing around with one of the Sultan's girls in the harem. There's nothing racist about it."

Clyde the camel was named by Stevens after former Drifters lead singer Clyde McPhatter. For several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s Stevens released albums and video entertainment under the label Clyde Records (complete with camel-shaped logo).