The Frank Crumit recording is an abridgement of Percy French's second version of the song, which Dick Greenhaus posted above. We can fit only abridged lyrics in the upcoming Rise Again songbook, and I think I like Crumit's version.

ABDUL ABULBUL AMEER

The sons of the Prophet are brave men and bold
And quite unaccustomed to fear
But the bravest by far in the ranks of the Shah
Was Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
Now the heroes were plenty and well-known to fame
In the troops that were led by the Czar
And the bravest of these was a man by the name
Of Ivan Skivinsky Skivar.

One day this bold Russian had shouldered his gun
And donned his most truculent sneer
Downtown he did go, where he trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
"Young Man" quoth Abdul "Has life grown so dull
That you wish to end your career-
Vile infidel know, you have trod on the toe
Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer".

Said Ivan: "My friend, your remarks in the end
Will avail you but little, I fear,
For you ne'er will survive to repeat them alive
Mr. Abdul Abulbul Ameer."
"So take your last look at sunshine and brook,
And send your regrets to the Czar
For by this I imply, you are going to die
Count Ivan Skivinsky Skivar."

They fought all that night 'neath the pale yellow moon
The din it was heard from afar
And huge multitudes came, so great was the fame
Of Abdul and Ivan Skivar.
[As Abdul's long knife was extracting the life
(In fact he was shouting "Huzza")
He felt himself struck by that wily Calmuck
Count Ivan Skivinsky Skivar]

The Sultan drove by in his red-crested fly
Expecting the victor to cheer
But he only drew nigh to hear the last sigh
Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer.
Czar Petrovitch, too, in his spectacles blue
Rode up in his new-crested car,
He arrived just in time to exchange a last line
With Ivan Skivinsky Skivar.

There's a tomb rises up where the Blue Danube flows
Engraved there in characters clear
"Ah, Stranger, when passing, oh, pray for the soul
Of Abdul Abulbul Ameer"
A Muscovite maiden her lone vigil keeps
'Neath the light of the pale polar star
And the name that she murmurs, so oft as she weeps
Is Ivan Skivinsky Skivar.


[the part in brackets is not included in the Crumit recording, but I think it's needed to make sense of the story - the fact that each man killed the other is pertinent, dontchathink?]