Jimmy Buffett

[fox69]

​

"A Frenchman For The Night"

"A Frenchman For The Night"



From his driftwood castle
Comes a song I've heard before
A scratchy gramophone cuts to the bone
"La Vie En Rose" arpeggios
So the dream begins
And the song is amplified
Buy the Beaujolais, on Bastille day
He dances in the tide

By the light of the moon
He's a Frenchman for the night
By the light of the moon
It'll be all right

Well it takes him back
To the days of love and war
And the girl he knew with eyes of blue
Waiting on the shore
If he'd only known
How the years would fly on by
Such a simple crime, he's run out of time
So he reaches for the sky

By the light of the moon
He's a Frenchman for the night
By the light of the moon
It'll be all right

Blame it on the Champs Elysees
Blame it on a tune
Blame it on the stroke of Monet
But you can't escape the moon

He sees the stars above
As the floor to heavens light
While the angels taunt "C'est une nuit blanche"
He's a Frenchman for the night

By the light of the moon
He's a Frenchman for the night
By the light of the moon
It'll be all right

From a driftwood castle
Comes a song I've heard before
A scratchy gramophone cuts to the bone
"La Vie En Rose" arpeggios

 

[fox69]

"A Lot To Drink About"

"A Lot To Drink About"



Hey, have you noticed that the world has changed
That the news is all bad
Well, I think it

 

[fox69]

"A Mile High In Denver"

"A Mile High In Denver"



Sittin' on a pocket full of hard earned wages
Lookin' at the world through magazine pages
I heard a lot about the mountains and the Colorado range
Made this stop for personal reasons
I didn't know I'd catch the changin' of the seasons
Where winter dictates everything from frost to naked trees

I'm about a mile high in Denver
Where the rock meets timberline
I've walked this ground from town to town
Just to finally call it mine

Lookin' for the cloud with a Styrofoam lining
Hopin' that the sun will keep on shining
Leading me to distant peace that waits so patiently
Need a little love to try some givin'
Try a little love and then start livin'
Things I feared so long ago
When everything was wrong

I'm about a mile high in Denver
Where the rock meets timberline
I've walked this ground from town to town
Tonight I'll call it mine

Sittin' on a pocket full of hard earned wages
Lookin' at the world through magazine pages
I heard a lot about the mountains and the Colorado range
Need a little time to try some livin'
Try a little love and then start givin'
Things I feared so long ago
When everything was wrong
I'm about a mile high in Denver
Where the rock meets timberline
Where God and trees create the breeze
Tonight I'll call it mine

 

[fox69]

"A Pirate Looks At Forty"

"A Pirate Looks At Forty"


Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters
since I was three feet tall.
You've seen it all, you've seen it all.

Watch the men who rode you,
Switch from sails to steam.
And in your belly you hold the treasure
that few have ever seen, most of them dreams,
Most of them dreams.

Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.

I've done a bit of smugglin'
I've run my share of grass.
I made enough money to buy Miami,
But I pissed it away so fast,
Never meant to last, never meant to last.

I have been drunk now for over two weeks,
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks,
But I've got to stop wishin',
Got to go fishin', I'm down to rock bottom again.
Just a few friends, just a few friends.

[Instrumental]

I go for younger women, lived with several awhile
And though I ran away, they'll come back one day.
And still could manage a smile
It just takes awhile, just takes awhile.

Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupations
just not around.
I feel like I've drowned,
Gonna head uptown.

 

[fox69]

"A Sailor's Christmas"

"A Sailor's Christmas"



Sail on the horizons gotta landfall rendezvous
Captain steers a well-known course, he steers straight & true
As he trims the sheets, he sings a song
He learned on boats and bars
Sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour 'neath the stars

He's traveled through the doldrums, typhoons and hurricanes
He's logged a million soggy miles with water on his brain
But Christmas is the season better suited for dry land
He'll tell some lies, meet some spies
And dance barefoot in the sand

The sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour on the hook
Caye con les, no work today, let's shell the ol' log book
The waterfront is reveling, the season has begun
The sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour having fun.

There's a party down at Le Selecte, music, rum and cheers
Faces in the shadows, God, I haven't seen for years
A mast & shroud fill with lights
'Neath the waning of the moon
They're an airy celebration in the realm of King Neptune.

The sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour on the hook
Caye con les, no work today, let's shell the ol' log book
The waterfront is reveling, the season has begun
The sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour having fun.

Jesus was a fisherman who walked upon the sea
The North Pole is ocean's remote frozen balcony
The continents keep drifting but the children sing and play
'Cause nothing really matters, after all it's Christmas day

The sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour on the hook.
Vaye con les, no work today, he read it in a book
The waterfront is reveling, the season has begun
A sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour having fun
A sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour having fun
Havin' fun... havin' fun...havin' fun

 

[fox69]

"Ace"

"Ace"



It hardly seems a long time just a minute of the day
When the man who stood beside me more than gave himself away
The food stain on his spotted shirt a gray beard on his face
A man composed of many names so I just called him Ace

Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
He sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowin' what he's gonna find

Born in Mississippi pickin' cotton as a child
Left soon for the city where he heard that life was wild
That was fifty years ago when nothin's really strange
From a poor dirt farm to dirty streets is really not much change

Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
He sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowin' what he's gonna find

Go back to the country no he really can't do that
Wasted years have left him nothin' but an old straw hat
So he puts it on his head and waves a last good-bye
With no time left to turn around and no time to ask why

Ace can't read and Ace can't write and
He sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowin' what he's gonna find

This old world has left poor Ace behind

 

[fox69]

"African Friend"

"African Friend"



Disembarking at Duvalier Airport
Seeking transportation to town
As the purple ink dried on his passport
He could still feel the eyes look around

"Messieur ou est le casino?"
He spoke to the cabbie and smiled
The driver replied "Vieux ou noveaux?"
As he motioned the dark man inside.

Business in Aruba concluded
He now had a little money to spend
That's how I came to meet my African friend

We were rollin' the bones several hours
Conversing as most gamblers do
We were calling on all of our powers
Hoping to see the night through.

But not approving at all of our winning
The pit boss he tugged at his sleeve
Through the whole thing my new friend was grinning
When he motioned it's time we should leave.

With our night at the tables behind us
We were ready just to do it again
That's when I came to know my African Friend

But I woke up on the steps of a whorehouse
A soldier told me I' better leave
As I stumbled to find me a taxi
I saw a note pinned to my sleeve.

"It was a pleasure and a hell of an evening
It was truly our night to win
But the authorities insist on my leaving
Take care, my American friend."

With my weekend at Haiti concluded
I now had a little money to spend
That's when I came to meet my African friend
That's how I came to know another good friend.

 

[fox69]

"Ain't He A Genius?"

"Ain't He A Genius?"


See the lady
Smiles as if to tell
Her son remembers everyone
Treats 'em all quite well
He never asked for promises
And now his fame is wide
And everyone who knew him well shares a little pride

[Chorus:]
Ain't he a genius?
The boy's become a star
And he smiles upon the faces
Who wish they could go far

Not long ago they criticized
The genius only wrote
And now they listen spellbound
With lumps caught in their throats

His virtue was sheer poverty
His vice was reading plays
While other children starved and fought
He learned just what to say
Through tension and confession
He beat the monster down
Then surfaced in society no longer underground

[Chorus]

Now they remember
Talk only of his good
While jealousy flows in their veins
And says I wish I could

Ain't he a genius?

 

[fox69]

"All The Ways I Want You"

"All The Ways I Want You"



The hills are full of secrets
Owls watch by night
Down in town the bars are full
And the drunks are picking fights
These are things I know
But the facts are filtered through
All the ways I want you

2:19 freight train
Moaning somewhere near
I see you in the distance
But I can't get there from here
Hard to believe it's happening
But my whole world's shrunken to
All the ways I want you

Stars look down and laugh at me
I ought to take a bow
Don't have to tell them life's hard sometimes
There's one falling now
Nobody's here beside me
I can talk about it to
All the ways I want you

 

[fox69]

"Altered Boy"

"Altered Boy"



Oh no, he's buying an island
Oh no, he's building a boat
Why does he never stop smiling?
Fun surrounds him like a deep moat

Where does he get all those stories?
How can he tell such a lie?
He's bound to see purgatory
His views are in short supply

But Peter Pan would understand
His schemes and dreams and ploys
Best keep an eye on his slight hand
He such an altered boy

Good God, he's talking with parrots
Painting his dreams in the sand
Piling up beaucoup demerits
Doing it just 'cause he can

By Jove he's having a cocoa
Evading those judgmental eyes
Calmly walking his tight rope
High above all the outcries

But Peter Pan would understand
His schemes and dreams and ploys
Best keep an eye on his slight hand
He such an altered boy

The story goes
he stumbled at the alter
Now it seems he just blasphemes
And dwells with dangers daughter

Someone call the talking doctor
Somebody get a SWAT team
There he sits getting away with murder
How dare him live out his dreams

But Peter Pan would understand
His schemes and dreams and ploys
Best keep an eye on his slight hand
He such an altered boy

Oh no, he's sailing today
Oh no, beware Paraguay
Oh no, anchors aweigh
Oh no