Best Of The Early Years

Jimmy Buffett Best Of The Early Years Lyrics
1.The Christian

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

Chorus:
It's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
Didn't you forget the golden rule
You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
But he's a little smart for you to fool

You complain how you forgets the gospel
You remind them seek and you shall find
Maybe youth will have a time for seeking
After they clean up what you left behind

Chorus:
'Cause it's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
Didn't you forget the golden rule
You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
But he's a little smart for you to fool

You were right there when the plate was passed last Sunday
That's the second time you've been to church all year
Could you really call yourself a christian
If charity cost half as much as beer
Hey

You pray a little more as you grow older
You get religion as your hair turns gray
But you don't need to worry about hereafter
Just worry what you're going to do today

Chorus:
'Cause it's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
Didn't you forget the golden rule
You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
But he's a little smart for you to fool
Yes my friend I think you've blown your cool
Hey


2.Ellis Dee(He Ain't Free)

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

Why is he cussin' and calling disgustin'
The city that is now his home
He never smiles or keeps up with styles
He is black and he is all alone
And you ask why he's this way
Well brother you're too blind to see
It's 'cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

Get out of the street don't get high on my beat
Go on home the policeman warns
Just 'cause you're poor why do you declare war
I can't help the way you were born
Why are they holdin' him down
He's spending his life on his knees
'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

Chorus:
Got to help Ellis
Got to help Ellis
You know we got to help Ellis Ellis Dee
Try and help Ellis you and me
Got to get to Ellis hear his plea
Try and help Ellis get free

Ellis got hooked he got booked and he shook
In his cold little shivery cell
While out on the street in that same funky beat
Mister pusher was doing well
And Ellis Junior cries tears his daddy can't see
'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

Chorus

'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me
No Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me


3.Richard Frost

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

Richard Frost left Alabama heading west to find his fame
Only got to Oklahoma and that's where he changed his name
Now he plays a little tavern all the drunks say he's a star
Hollywood forgot his number now he's stuck in Kelly's Bar

But is he happy my friend
or does he pretend?
Is every song a routine chore?
Well he every decide
to go and not hide
behind his fear and Kelly's backstage door

Richard Frost draws 90 people and on weekends lines grow long
Singing loud and laughing with them the crowd reacts to every
song
Bigger worlds (?) can't help but make you more aware of what you
see
Afraid of what's beyond just eyesight keeps the worlds in
harmony

La da da da da da
La da da da da da
La da da da da da da da

La da da da da da
La da da da da da
La da da da da da da da


4.A Mile High In Denver

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

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


5.The Captain And The Kid

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

I never used to miss the chance to climb up on his knee
And listen to the many tales of life upon the sea
We'd go sailing back on Barkentines we'd talk of things he did
Tomorrow just a day away for the Captain and the kid

His world had gone from sailing ships to raking mom's backyard
He never could adjust to land although he tried so hard
We both were growing older then and wiser with the years
That's when I came to understand the course his heart still
steers

He died about a month ago while winter filled the air
And though I cried I was so proud to love a man so rare
He's somewhere on the ocean now that's where he oughta be
With one hand on the starboard rail he's wavin' back at me

I never used to miss the chance to climb up on his knee
And listen to the many tales of life upon the sea
We'd go sailing back on Barkentines we'd talk of things he did
Tomorrow just a day away for the Captain and the kid


6.Captain America

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion
He looks a little different from anything you've seen
He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation
He's got the brains of Einstein and brawn of Mister Clean

He's a lightin flash who makes the dash from one coast to the
other
To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother
Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man

He wears a mask his clothes his clothes are weird and some folks
call him hokie
But he is hip and just can't dig the okie from Muskogie
Captain will help anyone a friend or a stranger
Now number one without a gun he's bypassed the Lone Ranger
He's a do do good who loves apple pie and kisses little babies
He'll guard you against everything from atom bombs to rabies

Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man

Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion
He looks a little different from anything you've seen
He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation
He's got the brains of Einstein and brawn of Mister Clean
He's a lightin flash who makes the dash from one coast to the
other
To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother

Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man


7.Ain't He a Genius

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

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

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


8.Turnabout

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

As large as life she stood there
Kissed my cheek and called my old nickname
And though several years had passed
Both of us still looked quite the same
I said Hi, relaxed a bit then asked her how she'd been all these
years
She told me she was feeling fine and came to see a friend who
lived up here

She told me she had finished school
And then went on to college for a year
I asked if she had married
And slowly down her cheek there came a tear
She said just an itchy eye it must be the weather way up here
Told her I can't stand the cold
It freezes me and I can't feel my ears

We talked a bit about Mobile
And thought about how it has never changed
I told her I was comin' home to spend some time
And hoped it wouldn't rain
She asked if she could see me then
And we could spend some time now and then
Because I lived so far away
Was still no chance why we could not be friends

I drove her to the waiting plane
And watched that big jet streaking through the sky
Thought about the sad young girl
And the time that I just saw her cry
That flame must still be burning bright
I think I'll catch a later flight today
It's time for me to go on home and spend a day or two down by
the bay


9.I Can't Be Your Hero Today

It's never been the same since you returned from dreamin'
With your nursery rhyme excuses and your picture postcards
gleamin'
Tellin' everyone who looks your way 'bout people and their
sinnin'
While your left field verse is fallin' in proprtion to your
winnin'

And I can't be your hero today
I'm through with the simple games you play
It just might take some time to even up the score
But I can't be your soldier home from war

And there you sit shining that there's still hope for us
While nature holds the handcuffs on a Capricorn and Taurus
There's nothing you can do or say to get me to your camp
Go fill up all your savings books and buy yourself a lamp

And I can't be your hero today
Your wholesale price is much too high to pay
Bargain basement atmosphere is no way to sell love
And I can't be your superman above

No I can't be your hero today
That is all I really want to say
Go find a leading man who wants to play
But I can't be your hero today


10.Livingston's Gone To Texas

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

Nothing here is different
Nothings changed at all
Livingston's gone to Texas
They say he had a ball

They say he learned to be a cowboy
They say he learned to rope and ride
But I wonder if he ever thinks about the tears his woman cried

Now Holly won't you let me
Try and make you smile
You loved him as if he were your husband
Now he'll be gone awhile

Wrote he had to see the country
On starry nights he wished that you were there
And so it shows wherever he goes
Deep inside you know he really cares

It's crazy and it's different
But it's really being free
And reasons the world would want to question
Makes sense to you and me

Nothing here is different
Nothing's changed at all
Livingston's still in Texas
The snows about to fall


11.Traveling Clean

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

You go to Fargo
We'll meet in Chicago
Travelin' light and travelin' clean
In a nine wheel blue and white travelin' machine
And I'm gone I'm movin' on yes I'm gone

Chorus:
No time to look back
We've crossed the last track
Travelin' free and travelin' wild
With my barefoot blue-eyed travelin' child
And I'm gone I'm movin' on yes I'm gone

Run away queen
Travelin' clean

You tell your mother
That you love another
Runnin' with a free-born man
That asks more of you than your hand
And you're gone you're movin' on yes you're gone

Run away queen
Travelin' clean

You go to Fargo
We'll meet in Chicago
Travelin' light and travelin' clean
In my nine wheel blue and white travelin' machine
And I'm gone

Come away, runaway queen
On her way travelin' queen


12.God Don't Own A Car(No Wheels)

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

I have been out wanderin'
I have traveled far
One conclusion I have made
Is God don't own a car

He don't wear no fancy clothes
He'd rather take the bus
He would pay air tourist fare
So He could sit with us

He don't have no tambourine
Guitar or slide trombone
The music we make here on Earth
But the words are His own

And when we finally reach His home
And walk among the stars
He'll join our band then we'll understand
Why God don't own a car


13.The Missionary

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

I didn't know we were at war
I've been away so long
Trying to help once lost men
Distinguish right from wrong
I didn't know we killed the men
Our leaders proud and strong
The situation's changed my friend
I've been away too long

I taught my friends
How we had gained respect for every man
And freedom flowed like jungle streams
While peace embraced the land
I told them how we'd learn to change
Our sword blades into plows
I told them how they should learn from us
What should I tell them now

Chorus:
'Cause I didn't know we were at war
I've been away so long
Trying to help once lost men
Distinguish right from wrong

The jungle silence shut them off
From civilized mankind
Their nakedness was no disgrace
No censors could I find
The population lived in peace
All brothers on their own
And now that I have seen the mess
I don't think I'll go home

'Cause I didn't know we were at war
I've been away so long
I told them they should learn from us
I think I told them wrong


14.Truckstop Salvation

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

Straight-laced leather-faced he rolled in like he owned the
two-bit town
Dollar bills bulging from his bell bottomed jeans
The population they gathered 'round
Nothing this exciting since a fertilizer truck
Blew a front tire and landed in the creek

Everybody talkin' everybody strainin'
Tryin' to get a little peek
It's just the world they'll never know
Not a country fair side show
Reality they'll somehow never see
He's what they've tried to kill
With their Bibles and their stills
But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free

Payin' for the gas he quickly shouted thanks
And continued on his journey once again
Just about the time a siren fast approached and
The pot bellied sheriff he whizzed right in
With his self inflicted grammar started shoutin'
Accusations at the long haired greasy looking ape
While a local DJ from the fifty watt station got the
whole damn thing on tape

It's just the world they'll never know
Not a country fair side show
Reality they'll somehow never see
He's what they've tried to kill
With their Bibles and their stills
But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free

The holy roller preacher told the eager congregation
That the devil has passed right through their nest
But the teenage girls with their locks in curls were
A talkin' 'bout that hair upon his chest
Now the kids got their cookies while the preacher
Saved some souls and the story spread to everyone in sight
Commotion was the word and everybody heard
He was gone before the night

It's just the world they'll never know
Not a country fair side show
Reality they'll somehow never see
He's what they've tried to kill
With their Bibles and their stills
But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free


15.ACE

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

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


16.Rockefeller Square

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

Did you ever just want to lay down
Tell the world you've had enough
Did you ever just want to drop out
When the goin' got a little bit rough
Have you ever walked the sidewalks hungry
Have you ever really had the blues
So now you want to see how the other half lives
Well brother whatcha got to lose

Whatcha got to lose if you leave your home
And you never think of ever goin' back
Your father's makin' money for the good of the country
And your mother's out bettin' at the track

Camptown ladies sing them songs doo dah doo dah
Now you want to let your hair grow long
And get a little pad uptown
Throw away your checkbook and all your credit cards
And use your wits to get around
So you think it's gonna make you happy
See your story in the evening news
Makin' a game out of pointin' the blame
Brother whatcha got to lose

Hey lonely Rockefeller Square
The underground world don't fit a millionaire
Hey Rocky whatcha gonna do
First time you've ever had the pressure on you
But Rock when the rockin' and the bummin' is through
There'll still be piece of Daddy's kingdom for you

Rocky you sure hurt your mama
And your daddy's got an ulcer for you
With the stock market shot and the war's still hot
It was sure was a cruel thing to do

(So don't cry boy)
Hey lonely Rockefeller Square
The underground world don't fit a millionaire
Hey Rocky whatcha gonna do
First time you've ever had the pressure on you
But Rock when the rockin' and the bummin' is through
There'll still be piece of Daddy's kingdom for you

Money today money to pay
Don't you go gay
Rocky better pray


17.Bend A Little

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

Evil it's been here all along
Good things they just seem to have come and gone
In my life I have seen so much go wrong
And there's only one way left for us to get along

You got to bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems I've been fightin' it all along
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone

Papers they print it every day
Housewife wraps the garbage then throws it away
I don't guess she thinks they have that much to say
But when the time is right she'll be the lady with so much to
pay

You got to bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems I've been fightin' it all along
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone

History it teaches much too well
Nations had to rise up before they fell
And my eyes see the story they're tryin' to tell
And tonight I think I heard the final toll of the bell
We better...

Bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems I've been fightin' it all along
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone


18.In The Shelter

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

In the shelter
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home

Lonely princess
All the days out on your own are growing empty
Nothing is goin' well if you could only tell them
How you feel
But they're too real to understand

Too many trite expressions ended in forced rejections
long ago
Too many innocent faces too many far out places
something's wrong
Let me tell you that something's wrong
It's been that way so long
It's a shame

On the street car
To the city where she knows that she might lose it all
Riding for just a dime taking her own sweet time
and knowing well
This could be her final fall

Past the boutique
down the alley to the river people pass her by
Sits on the big gray rocks takes off her boots and socks
And knowing what she will do next
Just starts to cry

Too many small suggestions ending in angry questions
from her dad
Too many TV dinners and everyone loves a winner
But she was lost
No one knows the trials she had

In the shelter
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home

Lord I just don't know but I can't go back home


19.Death Valley Lives

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett
Music:Jimmy Buffett

It's the ways of her father
If she's gonna change she hasn't done it yet
And the desert is calling to me
Run before the final trap is set
All roads lead to the city
Where the dudes and the dykes all look the same
Lady lays out the pattern
With the parts of her body that seem tame
Death Valley lives and Tracy isn't sure what really gives

Act like a child and I'll respond with my well-rehearsed
farewell
Quoting the verse that you bought but weren't quite prepared to
sell

Saying I think I love you
Maybe I care
It's not fair
Death Valley lives and Tracy Isn't sure what really gives

And it's a sore spot when the room's burning hot
And the desert air just cannot bring you down
Still the bed's warm but a cold arm
Keeps me floating inches off the ground

Death Valley lives and Tracy isn't sure what really gives

Go paint your toes wipe your nose and then come say good-bye
And all along tell yourself that I'm wrong if I try
Cryin' sorry it's over
I'm not to blame
What a game
Death Valley lives now I'm not even sure what really gives


20.High Cumberland Dilemma

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

It's been a little fever and maybe Bucky Beaver
Who made me pull the lever and leave once again
We chose just not to marry but go ahead and carry
All of our earthly goods and go to live out in the woods

Midnight on the mountain and you watch the clouds roll by
Country air's appealin' but there's more than meets the eye
Meets the eye...

Moonlight on the cabin and you're too damn cold to sleep
Your head turns from my pillow so I can't see you weep
See you weep...Sarah sleep

Stoned alone together least the city streets have drains
Standing here ass high up in the rain longin' for Boston
Once again

Sarah's cold and hungry and the baby's due any day
Stuck up in high country and it don't thaw out 'til May
Here we'll stay...

Mountain fever's on me and tonight the truck broke down
Doctor in the valley but we can't get in to town
He don't come 'round

Sarah cried for Boston and her mother late last night
I reassured her everything was tight but I'm not sure that it's
all
right...

Midnight on the mountain and you watch the clouds roll by
Country air's appealin' but there's more than meets the eye
Meets the eye...

rite 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


21.The Hangout Gang


22.High Cumberland Jubilee

Lyrics:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason
Music:Jimmy Buffett/Buzz Cason

Maybe leaving's better in the afternoon
When the rain don't fall so hard
From where we were we had to look down far below
To see just what went on in our own backyard

Coming down slow without a thing to show
Wondering what went on while we were up there
Mountain roads now asphalt highways
That we once called heaven skyways
Children lost what is the cost to get back home again

La La La La La La La La Laaaaa
La La La La La La La La Laaaaa

It was a high Cumberland Jubilee
Such a high Cumberland Jubilee


23.There's Noting Soft About Hard Times