Life In The Desert is a formerly unidentified funk rock/new wave song by the Seattle based band Living Dolls. It was reportedly released in 1985 on the cassette of the same name although the cassette cannot be found online.
Search History[]
The song was posted to WatZatSong on April 13th, 2023, by the user sailorfreak. It was recorded off of KJET, a radio station in Seattle, Washington, in October of 1986 or before.
On April 14th, 2023, user Fatbird discovered a post on the New Wave Outpost forum by user Bleek that mentioned multiple bands and songs that played on KJET. One of the songs mentioned is a song by the band Living Dolls titled Life In The Desert from 1986.[1][2]
There isn’t any audio of the song anywhere, but multiple things matched up, and the band’s vocalist sounded similar. None of the band members were active online, so they were unable to be contacted.
Over time, the song was reuploaded to YouTube by multiple users, such as MistaEgg, Ofrix, No Background, S2h, AlianTheObscure, and multiple others, amassing over 1k views.
On February 11th, 2025, user TonyCheekz found mention of the song in a news article from September 1st, 1985. It mentioned that Life In The Desert was the title track in an EP that was scheduled to officially release on cassette in fall of 1985. The article also mentions that the songs played multiple times on KJET.[3]
On October 17th, 2025, Discord user Hinoyt contacted former band member Fletcher Beasley via his bandcamp. The next day on October 18th, 2025, Fletcher responded and confirmed that the song was "Life In The Desert" by The Living Dolls.[4]
Lyrics[]
People come, people go
People starve though we’ll never know
Babies cry, babies scream
In a time where it’s just a dream
Roam the streets, they won’t rest
Life itself now ain’t living there
[Weddings] done, candles spark
Tearing down Ethiopia
But go on, not this way
[Living in your world], not this way
We’ve built our life in the desert
It’s calling out, calling all it (???)
Have a dream, raise a son
(???) me up ‘til the day is gone
[Landings] done, never know
(???) and [give] to know
Feel the heat, hear our moan
Learn to suffer, [starved to] bone
[Weddings] done, candles spark
Tearing down Ethiopia
But go on, not this way
[Living in your world], not this way
We’ve built our life in the desert
He’s calling out, calling all it (???)
In the name of hunger
Accept that you had end
Suffer without mercy
The women killed these men
Fantasies of nowhere
Try to comprehend
Life in the desert
It’s calling out again
Open doors, turn to us
Empty mouths only taste the dust
[Government], clear that sound
Skeletons crawling all around
(???), but thunder [here]
[I’ll be home now], (???)
[Weddings] come, candles spark
Liberty (???) Ethiopia
But go on, not this way
[Living in your world], not this way
We’ve built our life in the desert
He’s calling out, calling out
Life in the desert
He’s calling out, calling out
Life in the desert
He’s calling out
(???)
Living Dolls[]
Living Dolls was a new wave band from Seattle, Washington, USA.
TBA
