[Verse 1: Kenny Rogers]
Baby, when I met you there was peace unknown
I set out to get you, with a finetooth comb
I was soft inside
There was something going on
[Verse 2: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
You do something to me that I can't explain
Hold me closer and I feel no pain
Every beat of my heart
We got something going on
[Pre-Chorus: Kenny Rogers, Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
Tender love is blind
It requires a dedication
All this love we feel needs no conversation
We ride it together, ah-ah
Making love with each other, ah-ah
[Chorus: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong?
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah
[Verse 3: Dolly Parton]
I can't live without you if the love was gone
Everything is nothing if you got no one
And you just walk in the night
Slowly losing sight of the real thing
[Verse 4: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
But that won't happen to us and we got no doubt
Too deep in love and we got no way out
And the message is clear
This could be the year for the real thing
[Pre-Chorus: Dolly Parton, Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers]
No more will you cry
Baby, I will hurt you never
We start and end as one
In love forever
We can ride it together, ah-ah
Making love with each other, ah-ah
[Chorus: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong?
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah
[Interlude: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
Sail away
Oh, come sail away with me
[Chorus: Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton]
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong?
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
How can we be wrong?
Sail away with me
To another world
And we rely on each other, ah-ah
From one lover to another, ah-ah
Islands in the stream
That is what we are
No one in between
[Named after the 1970 novel by Ernest Hemingway, the song was originally written for Diana Ross in an R&B style but later reworked for the duet by Rogers and Parton.
It has been claimed that the song was also intended for Marvin Gaye. This is attributed to a 2001 Good Morning America interview with the Bee Gees. When Barry Gibb said the song was written for Ross, Robin Gibb interrupted and said, "No, we wrote it for Marvin Gaye ... We sent it to him but he was dead so it was a bit difficult for him to sing it." Gaye actually died in 1984, a year after the recording. Separately, Robin Gibb has said the song was stylistically written "... as a Tamla kind of soul song in a Marvin Gaye type feel", though not asserting it was for Gaye. In other interviews, Barry Gibb has always maintained that Ross was the original artist for the song with no mention of Gaye.]
