Wonder Why We Ever Go Home by Jimmy Buffett

Years grow shorter, not longer
the more you’ve been on your own
Feelin’s for movin’ grow stronger’
so you wonder why you ever go home
wonder why you ever go home

People are movin’ so quickly
Humor’s in need of repair
Same occupations and same obligations
they’ve really got nothing to share
like drivin’ around with no spare

River gets deeper not shallow
the further you move down the stream
Wonderin’ if I can keep her as I
race to keep up with my dreams
How they shine and glitter and gleam

Years grow shorter, not longer
the more you’ve been on your own
Feelin’s for movin’ grow stronger’
so you wonder why you ever go home
wonder why you ever go home
wonder why you ever go home

 Banana Republics by Steve Burgh, Steve Goodman, Jim Rothermel

Down to the Banana Republics
Down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated American
Hopin’ to find some fun

Some of them go for the sailing
Called by the lure of the sea
Tryin’ to find what is ailing
Living in the land of the free

Some of them are running to lovers
Leaving no forward address
Some of them are running tons of ganja
Some are running from the IRS

Late at night you will find them
In the cheap hotels and bars
Hustling the senoritas
While they dance beneath the stars
Spending those renegade pesos
on a bottle of rum and a lime
Singin’ give me some words I can dance to
Or a melody that rhymes

First you learn the native custom
Soon a word of Spanish or two
You know that you cannot trust them
Cause they know they can’t trust you

Expatriated American feelin’ so all alone
Telling themselves the same lies
that they told themselves back home

Down to the Banana Republics
Things aren’t as warm as they seem
None of the natives are buying
any second hand American dreams

Still Late at night you will find them
In the cheap hotels and bars
Hustling the senoritas
while they dance beneath the stars
Spending those renegade pesos
On a bottle of rum and a lime
Singing give me some words I can dance to
Or a melody that rhymes

Down to the Banana Republics
Down to the tropical sun
Go the expatriated Americans
Hopin’ to find some fun


Tampico Trauma by Jimmy Buffett

“The name Tampico has always held a sense of danger for me. I guess it comes from watching the opening scene in Treasure of Sierra Madre when Bogart and Tim Holt won the lottery. Instead of cowboys, I put a couple of rock’n rollers in the coastal town and let my imagination go.” - Jimmy

I must look a mess I must admit
But I have been traveling quite a bit
South of the border where the law and order
Is kept by Federales who just grin
And tell you they just want to be your friend
They tell you they just want to be your friend
I left for Tampico last July
I jumped off that boat I almost died

There to greet us were pretty senoritas
I swore that I would not go home them
All those lovely ladies were my friends
All those sweet Chiquita’s they don’t pretend
Como estas, Senorita?

That is all I really want to say
I was thrown out of the country yesterday
You see I was drinkin’ doubles
Causin’ lots of trouble
When the man looked in the window of the bar and he grinned
And said if you come back we may not be your friend
I don’t want to see you around here again
You come back next time we may not pretend
Hi Dee Ho Boys!


Lovely Cruise by Jonathan Baham

“This song was brought to me by a young man named Jonathan Baham. It was one of those songs that just fit the mood, and I put it on the record. I like the story and the image. It has stood the test of time.” - Jimmy

Drink it up
This ones for you
It’s been a lovely cruise
I’m sorry it’s ended
It’s sad but it’s true
Honey it’s been a lovely cruise

These moments were left with
May you always remember
These moments are shared by few
There’s wind in our hair
And there’s water in our shoes
Honey, it’s been a lovely cruise

These moments we’re left with
May you always remember
These moments are shared by few

And those harbor lights
Aw they’re coming into view
We bid our farewell much too soon
So drink it up
This one’s for you
Honey, it’s been a lovely cruise
Yea baby, it’s been a lovely cruise
Oh darlin’ it’s been a lovely cruise


Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffett

“This song was written about a drink in Austin, Texas, and the first huge surge of tourist who descended on Key West almost two decades ago. What can I say? People ask if I ever get tired of playing it. The answer is no. It has paid the rent for a long time and seems to put a few minutes of joy into this troubled world when sung by fans at a show. I feel very lucky.” - Jimmy

Nibblin’ on sponge cake
watchin’ the sun bake
All of those tourists covered with oil
Strummin’ my six string on my front porch swing
Smell those shrimp
They’re beginnin’ to boil

Wasted away again in Margaritaville
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame
But I know it’s nobody’s fault

Don’t know the reason
Stayed here all season
With nothing to show but this brand new tattoo
But it’s a real beauty
A Mexican cutie, how it got here
I haven’t a clue

Wasted away again in Margaritaville
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame
Now I think, hell it could be my fault

I blew out my flip flop
Stepped on a pop top
Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home
But there’s booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on

Wasted away again in Margaritaville
Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame
But I know, it’s my own damn fault
Yes, and some people claim that there’s a woman to blame
And I know it’s my own damn fault


In The Shelter by Jimmy Buffett

In the shelter, in the morning as
the sun was brightly gleaming
I heard her crying 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
Nothin’ is goin’ well if you
could only tell them how you feel
But they’re too real to understand

Too many trite expressions ending in
forced rejection long ago
Too many innocent faces in too many
far-out places something’s wrong

Let me tell you that something’s wrong
It’s been that way so long, and it’s a shame

On the street car to the city
where she knows that she may lose it all
riding for just a dime
takin’ her own sweet and knowing well
that this could be her final fall
past the boutique, down the alley
to the river, people pass her by
She sits on the big grey rocks
takes off her boots and socks
not knowing what she will do next
just starts to cry

To many small suggestions ending in
angry questions from her dad
To many TV dinners ah, everyone
loves a winner, but she has lost
No ones knows the trials she had

In the shelter, in the morning as
the sun was brightly gleaming
I heard her crying out
“What is it all about? I just
don’t know, but I can’t go back home”
Hell, I just don’t know, but
I can’t go back home


Miss You So Badly by Jimmy Buffett and Greg Taylor

I guess it all blew up in Missoula
There just was no other way
After months of going crazy
There was nothing left to say
But when the dust had finally settled
And the air had quickly cleared
Things were better off than I had feared
And I miss you so badly
Girl I love you madly
Feelin’ so sad now since I been gone
Gone, gone
And it gets quite confusin’
It seems that I’m loosin’ track of
the long days since I been home

Were stayin’ in a Holiday Inn full of surgeons
I guess they meet there once a year
They exchange physician stories
And get drunk on Tuborg beer
Then they’re off to catch a stripper
With their eyes glued to her G
But I don’t think that I would ever let them cut on me

And I miss you so badly
Girl I love you madly
I think I been had though, for stayin so long
Long, long
And I’m just watchin’ the Gong show
Waitin’ for Zorro
Loosin’ the long day since I been home

I got a head of full of feelin’ higher
And an ear full of Patsy Cline
There is just no one who can touch her
Hell I’ll hang on every line
Oh crazy how things happen
It’s incredible but true
Oh the longer I’m gone the closer I feel to you

And I miss you so badly
Girl I love you madly
I’m feelin’ so glad just to be headin’ home
Home, home
And I been battling hotel maids
Chewin’ on Rolaids
Countin’ the hours `til I get home
Oh I been counting the hours `til I get home


Biloxi by Jesse Winchester

“Biloxi was the town I got my start playing music in a place called Trader Jon’s. It blew away in Hurricane Camille, but the memories of those days along the Mississippi Gulf Coast are still as vivid as the sunsets off toward new Orleans. Jesse Winchester got it right. All I did was sing about something I could relate to.” - Jimmy

Down around Biloxi
Pretty girls are dancin’ in the sea
They all look like sisters in the ocean
The boy will fill his pail with salty water
And the storms will blow from off towards New Orleans

Sun shines on Biloxi
Air is filled with vapors from the sea
Boy will dig a pool beside the ocean
He sees creatures from his dream underwater
And the sun will set from off towards New Orleans

Stars can see Biloxi
Stars can find their faces in the sea
We are walking down beside the ocean
We are splashing naked in the water
And the sky is red from off towards New Orleans
And the sky is red from off towards New Orleans

Down around Biloxi
Pretty girls are swimming in the sea
They all look like sisters in the ocean
The boy will fill his pail with salty water
And the storms will blow from off toward New Orleans


Landfall by Jimmy Buffett

Now what would they do if I just sailed away
Who the hell really compelled me to leave today
Runnin’ low on stories of what made it a ball
What would they do if made no landfall

I lived half my life in eight by five room
Just cruisin’ to the sound of the big diesel boom
It’s not close quarters that would make me snap
It’s just dealing with the daily unadulterated crap

Sail away for a month at a time
Sail away I’ve got to recharge mind
Then you’ll find me back at it again

Oh I love the smell of fresh snapper fried lite
What you say pouilly fuisse could round out the night
The mid morning watch is the best time to look
Oh what would they do if I wrote the big book

`Cause I’ve seen incredible things in my year
Someday’s were laughter, others were tears
If I had it all to do over again
I’d just get myself drunk and I’d jump right back in

Sail away, that’s the way I survive
Sail away, that’s just no shuck and jive
It just makes my whole life come alive

The wind whistled threw the cool rigging at night
Crazy crowds boogie to the sound and the lights
Bums down in Queros havin’ a ball
What would he do on another landfall
What would they do if I made no landfall
Oh what would they do if I flew to Nepal
What would I do if I met Lucille Ball
Tryin’ to make a little sense of it all
Just tryin’ to make a little sense of it all