REPEAT FOR THOSE HIT BY SANDY

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.

On a day when life was personally at its most confusing, I heard this song "Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On" (2005) on Radio Margaritaville (where else) and thought what a great piece of advice Jimmy was giving me.

 

Then upon realizing that I had the song on CD, Take the Weather With You, I listened a little more closely to what Jimmy was actually singing about.  As many of you know, Jimmy Buffett grew up in Alabama and has strong ties to the Gulf Coast and here he is singing about when Hurricane Katrina and "Pontchartrain buried  the ninth ward to the second floor".  The song has a 2005 copyright so must have been written soon after this terrible hurricane hit in September 2005.  

At first it seemed rather banal advice to people whose loved ones died and had their homes ruined, but right after the storm what else was there to do but "Breathe in, Breathe out, Move on".  As he so often does, Mr. Buffett got it right again. 

TITLE TUNE BY JIMMY BUFFETT

I promised on Thursdays that I would post the Jimmy Buffett song for your weekend listening and this week it is the one that this blog is named after, "A Pirate Looks At Forty".  Both Jimmy and I have are way past forty now, but it still rings true for whatever age you are.

My favorite line: "I made enough money to buy Miami, but I pissed it away too fast".  

Enjoy your weekend!!!

GREAT DRINKING SONG FOR THIS WEEKEND

Well, I'm no longer posting Jimmy Buffett everyday, but I do not want my fans to go without, so I'm going to try to post a favorite on Thursdays anyway.

"A Lot to Drink About" from Buffett Hotel  is an absolutely great song for the Cinco de Mayo weekend and the video is a great one of Jimmy and Mac MacAnaly doing an impromptu concert at the Margaritaville Cafe in Key West.  Why doesn't that happen when I walk into a Margaritaville Cafe????

So, listen, enjoy and I know you'll know all the words by the time you need a good drinking song. This one hits on everything that's happening now and just a bit more.  Thanks, Jimmy.  I need some RUM!!!

Z is for (USS) ZYDECOLDSMOBILE

Here we are at the final day of the A to Z Challenge and here is the Jimmy song that I found for "Z","USS Zydecoldsmobile" (2002) from the Far Side of the World CD.

Jimmy did not write this song, it was written by Sonny Landreth, but as usual with his lively performance and great band, Jimmy makes it his own.

Zydeco, for those that don't know, is from cajun music in Louisiana and you hear it all the time in New Orleans.  This is get up and dance, have a few more drinks and enjoy yourself music.

I hope that's what you've been doing here on "A Pirate Looks Past Sixty" during this challenge and PLEASE stay tuned, we'll be doing more Jimmy, more pirate info and more sailing and getting high!!!!  Thanks for joining.

Y is for You Call It Jogging...

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


Jimmy didn't write this song, it is attributed Loudemilk and please all you fans, let me know who this is.  Jimmy makes it his own though and it is included on the 1999 Beach House on the Moon CD.

The song is obviously about a husband who believes that instead of "jogging" like she tells him, his wife is out fooling around.  Pointing out all the signs that he sees, such as, "Somebody said they saw you down at the corner getting out of some stranger's car".  Also after hours of jogging, she comes home not even "breathing hard".

Jimmy's roots are in country and this sprightly little song is a step back into the genre, which he does well.

X is for X RATED

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.

Well, it is probably more PG 13 rated now, although it was a little wilder when it first came out in 1973.  From the weirdly named and great CD  A White Sports Coat and a Pink Crustacean, we have the infamous drinking etc. song, "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw".

Naturally this has become a concert favorite and listen hard, the words pretty much say it all.  Not my favorite Jimmy song, but one of the songs that will live on forever and ever and ever.

So have another drink, find your partner and follow Jimmy's advice.

W is for WINGS

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


From the relatively recent Hotel Buffett CD (2009), we have a philosophical song written by Jimmy Buffett and Will Kimbrough called "Wings".

We all know that Jimmy loves to fly in his airplanes and he also loves the idea of  "treetop flying" which is mentioned in this song.  I think that they are telling everyone to take a fresh look at life or look at it from a different point of view and you might fly on "wings that you can't see".

I'm also very fond of the line "I don't need no runway, I got fuel here in my bong, I can buzz at treetop flyer level all day long".  Also near the end of the song where they say "You can try to fly away from all your problems, well, I'm here to say that ain't the way to solve them".

Jimmy once again give us things to think about.

V is for VAMPIRES, MUMMIES AND THE HOLY GHOST plus bonus song

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


I know many, many of you were expecting "Volcano" and I will put a video of that at the end, but if you haven't heard "Vampires, Mummies, and the Holy Ghost", you really need to, which is why it is my "V" for the day.  This great fun song is from the Fruitcakes  CD, which if you don't own it you should get it.

Jimmy is only afraid of vampires, mummies and the Holy Ghost, nothing else scares him, lucky him.  I do like the verse about the "serial killer down the block" , he seemed so quiet and raised orchids, who knew.  It's a great fun song so sing along and enjoy your Wednesday.

For you purists, here is Volcano:

h

U is for UNCLE JOHN'S BAND

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.

Well as you all know, this song was not an original Jimmy Buffett song, but originally and wonderfully done by The Grateful Dead.  Also, I am not too fond of Jimmy's covers, which he seems to be doing quite a bit of lately.

That being said, "Uncle John's Band" which Jimmy covers on the Fruitcakes CD is a pretty good cover and a great song for "U" day.  As you can probably tell from my use of songs, this album is one of my favorites and will also show up on "V" day.

Listen and enjoy and mellow out, however you usually do, be it rum or other stuff.

T is THE WEATHER IS HERE I WISH YOU WERE BEAUTIFUL

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


"The Weather is Here I Wish You Were Beautiful" (1980) from the Coconut Telegraph CD has been one of my favorite songs for two reasons.

The first one is that of course, it has all the Jimmy Buffett elements, love of the palm tress, escaping a bitchy girlfriend, finding new love and finally deciding to kick it all over and move to the islands.  In the song, I am assuming he is from NYC and not sure where the flight attendant is from (Jimmy used the politically incorrect "Stewardess" in the song).

The other thing I love about this song is that at the time he recorded it Jimmy was a big "All My Children" fan; that's right the soap opera.  I watched it off and on when I was home with kids, but my friend called one day and said "Jimmy Buffett is going to be on 'All My Children' today!"  and he was.  He walked into a bar sat down, I don't remember if he had any lines, but the juke box was playing one of his songs.

THIS song comes into this all (ah, you were waiting for a point, right) because of the line "Billy Clyde wasn't insane".  Billy Clyde Tuggle was a "All My Children"  character, so I've always gotten a kick out of that and remember Jimmy's brief soap opera cameo every time I hear this song. .

S is for SON OF A SON OF A SAILOR

This song is the title song of one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett albums Son of a Son of a Sailor (1978).  As we know from following Jimmy's other songs, he actually is the son of a son of a sailor in that his grandfather was a sailing ship captain.

This song celebrates sailing and being on the water.  As Jimmy says, :The sea's in my veins, my tradition remains, I'm just glad I don't live in a trailer".  He has never been fond of the trailer parks scattered over Florida and especially hates them in the Keys.

This song more than many others speaks to how this guy became such a hit with many people.  He dreams the same dream, sings about them in song and then goes out and lives the dream, but shares it all with his fans like he's their best friend.  I have to admit that there are times in my life his songs have been my best friend.

Hey, this weekend go down to the ocean and listen to some Buffett!!!

R is for RHUMBA MAN

CMT music video


Today is "R" day and I'm finally putting up a song from one of Jimmy's most recent CDs.  The song is "Rhumba Man" (written by Jesse Winchester, who performs with Jimmy here) and it is on Jimmy Buffett's 2009 CD Hotel Buffett. 


I played it because today is a beautiful spring day and we're nearing summer and it's a great day to get out there and Rhumba as I know so many Jimmy fans are already doing in the parking lots prior to his concerts on the present tour.

RHUMBA BABY!!

Q is for QUIETLY MAKING NOISE

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


First off, don't forget to check out the amazing video for this song, actually I think he used the song to highlight the video of cats being drawn by what appears to be a computer program.  Good stuff!

Anyway, "Quietly Making Noise" (1994) is from the very lively Fruitcakes CD which includes "Fruitcakes" which is also a great song.

Naturally this one was chosen because it was the only Jimmy Buffett "Q" song that I could find, fortunately it's a good one.  Jimmy is once again singing about Paris which appears to be a place that he really loves and so there are many references to Oscar Wilde "died in bed, several floors above my head" and then goes on to mention going into the metro, meeting various people of different nationalities, and then "singers and writers and poets have flocked here for centuries, the city of light is built upon mountains of memories".

A reader did comment that he had seen Jimmy perform in Paris, did he do this song?
 

P is for PEANUT BUTTER CONSPRACY

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


"Peanut Butter Conspiracy" (1973) is a really quirky song from the equally quirky album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean, which also includes another of my favorite of Jimmy's crime songs "The Great Filling Station Holdup".

In "Peanut Butter Conspiracy", Jimmy takes us back to his "hard luck days" when apparently (probably fictionally) he and some co-conspirators would go into a mini-mart and shoplift.  So that we'll all know that he is not really bad, he vows to pay the mini-mart back when he hits the big time.

Interestingly, Jimmy was involved in investing in an underwater treasure hunt and they actually found some valuable items, I'm not sure when this was.  The news media at the time quoted this song and asked if now   was when he would "pay the mini-mart back"!

O is for ONE PARTICULAR HARBOR

"One Particular Harbor" (1983) is from the album of the same name and is Mr. Buffett's ode to Tahiti.  He sings the first and last verses in Tahitian which obviously many of his fans have learned,  because they try anyway to sing it along with him at concerts.

This lovely song is about a beautiful place in Pacific (not Jimmy's usual stomping ground) and is soothing to listen to.  The CMT video that I've included is from a concert Jimmy did in Antuilla, not Tahiti.

The translation of the first Tahitian verse (according to Wikipedia) is:

"Nature lives (life to nature), Have pity for the Earth, (Love the Earth)"

And the translation of the final Tahitian verse is that plus:

 "Bounty of the land is exhausted, But there is still abundance on the sea"

Sounds like Jimmy for sure!

N is for NO PLANE ON SUNDAY

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


Continuing down the alphabet, I find Jimmy has very few "N" songs, but this one is a song I've always liked and actually remember singing to myself when stuck in McCarren Airport in Vegas overnight one night.  "No Plane on Sunday" (1986) is from the Floridays CD.

The story is very simple and we've all been there, although I know I didn't do it Jimmy style.  They're planning on flying out of the islands (since he says "we're on island time") and the flight has been cancelled because of "something with  the landing gear" which seems like a fine reason to me.  Well, most of us would sit around the airport like the disgruntled people in the video, but Jimmy envisions a different plan.

In his plan, you meet a handsome guy (or beautiful woman) and even though you both have someone back home you spend the night dining, walking on the beach and very  much together.  Then comes Monday and it's back to real life.  It sure beats playing the slots and sleeping on the floor at McCarren.  Jimmy always seems to have a better plan.

L is for LITTLE MISS MAGIC

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


While Jimmy does have a lot of  "L"s, this little song has always been close to my heart.  Once again he is writing about his daughter, the older one this time, as "Little Miss Magic" is on the much older Coconut Telegraph CD.

This You Tube videographer put the lyrics up in this version which I think is great because I'm sure it's not a song that a lot of people know.  I always felt it was about my daughter, or a least what my husband would write about our daughter if he were in fact a songwriter.  Now, I totally believe it describes our beautiful granddaughter who will be 5 months old tomorrow.

I'll bet a lot of you have some "miss magics" in your lives, and love them just as much as Jimmy Buffett loves his.  Enjoy!!!

K is for KICK IT IN SECOND WIND

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


Oddly there are very few "K" songs in Jimmy's repertoire.  "Kick it In Second Wind" (1976) is from the Havana Daydreamin'  CD.

I only found one video for this song and oddly enough the lyrics are somewhat changed on this version.  The lyrics that I am familiar with use the refrain "losing anymore hope of scoring any more coke, and we still have to do another show".  If you look at the printed lyrics online this is also what you get.  Perhaps there was this drug free version recorded for some reason that I am not aware of.  (seems odd for Jimmy though).  I couldn't find any history on it.

It's not his best or worst song, just telling the story of performing late nite at the clubs and all the things that go wrong, "somebody locked in the bathroom" ,  "bassman  takes a great fall".  It's fun enough and it is a "K" so on with the challenge.

I guess all of us "older" fans are getting to our "Second Wind" about now!!!

J is for JAMAICA MISTAICA

Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


I am sure that many of you have heard about the fact that Jimmy Buffett's plane was fired upon by Jamaican authorities in 1996.  Well, in this lively and fun song, "Jamaica Mistaica" (1996), Jimmy musically tells us the story and the song is part of one of my favorite CD's Banana Wind (which has a hidden track of "Treetop Flying" on it).

Something that Jimmy does not include in the song is the fact that Bono (of U2) and his wife and kids were some of the passengers on the plane when it landed in Nigril.  Apparently, the authorities in Jamaica mistook the plane for a smuggler's plane that they had been alerted to watch for.  Fortunately (especially for Jamaican authorities) there were no injuries although there was some property damage (bullet holes) to the plane.

We all know that Jimmy loves flying and loves his planes.  This one was a Grumann HU-16 Albatross

Ah "another shitty day in paradise" to quote Jimmy.

I is for (TWO SONGS)

O.K. I really didn't think I could get by doing "I" without using "It's Five O'clock Somewhere" (2003) which has been associated with Jimmy Buffett since the day it came out.  You may wonder, looking at the video why, instead good old Jimmy, you see very handsome Alan Jackson singing.  This is a song that they did together and gave Jimmy his first Country Music Award ever.

When Jimmy does this one in concert he often calls on his old friend and singing partner, Mac Macanally, to sing Alan Jackson's part and it sounds really good.  You can hear live concerts on Radio Margaritaville often.

Now for the song that I love and that I fully planned on putting in for "I":



Please note that the videos embedded with the songs were posted by some great Parrotheads on YouTube and not my creation.


"Island" (1980)  is a beautiful little song where Jimmy seems to be saying that finding love is as difficult as landing on this beautiful island that he sees in the distance.

Enjoy the Double Concert.   Link to RADIO MARGARITAVILLE