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One Particular Harbour

by Jimmy Buffett and Bobby Holcomb

from the album One Particular Harbour

Lyrics

IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

I know I don’t get there often enough
But God knows I sure do try
It’s a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe

I used to rule my world from a pay phone
And ships out on the sea
But now times are rough
And I got too much stuff
Can’t explain the likes of me

But there’s this one particular harbour
So far yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
And finally disappear

But now I think about the good times
Down in the Caribbean sunshine
In my younger days I was so bad
Laughin’ about all the fun we had

I’ve seen enough to feel the world spin
Mixin’ different oceans meetin’ cousins
Listen to the drummers and the night sounds
Listen to the singers make the world go ’round

IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

Lakes below the mountains
Flow into the sea
Like oils applied to canvas
They permeate through me

And there’s that one particular harbour
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within

Most mysterious calling harbour
So far but yet so near
I can see the day when my hair’s full gray
And I finally disappear

IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI
IA ORA TE NATURA
E MEA AROFA TEIE AO NEI

UA PAU TE MAITAI NO TE FENUA
RE ZAI NOA RA TE ORA O TE MITIE

Jimmy’s Note:

I had my sights sets on Tahiti a long time ago and connived my way there through my good friend Tom Moffatt in Hawaii. We went there to play a show to an unknown audience, but that didn’t matter. I still had made it to Tahiti. At the airport we were met by an old expatriated American named Hugh Kelly who had run away from home a long time ago. We became instant friends, and he took me to his home on Moorea in the mountains above Cook’s Bay. When I looked down at the vista, the song came out as if it had been sitting inside of me waiting for the moment.