Railroad Lady by Jimmy Buffett and Jerry Jeff Walker

“Me and Jerry Jeff were coming back from a gig and sit by this woman on the train. She was going home to Kentucky and had to sit with us. While she was on the train she took care of us, so we wrote this song about her.” - Jimmy in Sausalito, CA 1974

She’s a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spending her days on the train
She’s a semi-good-looker
The fast rails they took ‘er
Now she’s tryin’, just tryin’ to get home again.

South Station in Boston to the stockyards of Austin
From the Florida sunshine to the New Orleans rain
Now that the rail packs
Has taken the best tracks
She’s tryin’, just tryin’ to get home again.

(Chorus)
She’s a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spending her life on the trains
Once a Pullman car traveler
Now the brakeman won’t have ‘er
She’s tryin’, just tryin’ to get home again.

Once a high balling loner he thought he could own ‘er
He bought her a fur and a big diamond ring
She hopped on for cold cash
Left town on the Wabash
Never thinking, Never thinking of home way back then.

But the rails are now rusty
The dining car’s dusty
The gold plated watches have taken their toll
The railroads are dying
And the lady she’s crying
On a bus to Kentucky and home that’s her goal.

(Chorus)
She’s a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spending her life on the train
She’s a semi-good looker
But the fast rails the took ‘er
Now she’ tryin’, just tryin’ to get home again.

 He Went To Paris by Jimmy Buffett

“Chicago is where I truly cut my teeth as a performer, working as the opening act at the Quiet Knight. I opened for a variety of people from Neil Sedaka to Bob Marley, and when I got frustrated with the crowds, the old one-armed clean-up man with the big German shepherd always consoled me. It took me a few days of asking to find out Eddie was more than a janitor. He was a gifted painter and a wonderful pianist. We would stay up after the club closed, and he would sing me songs from the Spanish Civil War where he had fought as a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade against the Fascists. Eddie Balchowsky was indeed an inspiration. He was larger than life, and as Mark Twain said “he’d gone out into the territory”. This song is a tribute to his spirit.” - Jimmy

He went to Paris looking for answers
To questions that bothered him so
He was impressive, young and aggressive
Saving the world on his own.

But the warm Summer breezes
The French wines and cheeses
Put his ambition at bay
And Summers and Winters
Scattered like splinters
And four or five years slipped away.

Then he went to England, played the piano
And married an actress named Kim
They had a good life, she was a good wife
Bore him a young son named Jim.

And all of the answers and all of the questions
He locked in his attic one day
‘Cause he liked the quiet clean country living
And twenty more years slipped away.

Well the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady
And left him with only on eye
His body was battered, his whole world was shattered
And all he could do was just cry.

While the tears were falling, he was recalling
The answers he never found
So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean
And left England without a sound.

Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin’s
And drinks his green label each day
He’s writing his memoirs and losing his hearing
But he don’t care what most people say.

Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion
If he likes you he’ll smile then he’ll say
Jimmy, some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic
But I had a good life all the way.

And he went to Paris looking for answers
To questions that bother him so.



Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit by Jimmy Buffett

“The place was the Islander Drive-in Theatre, and the movie was Payday starring Rip Torn. The girl was from St. Petersburg, and she was running away from a bad boyfriend. The popcorn was salty, and the beer was cold.” - Jimmy

Grapefruit
Bathing suit
Chew a little Juicy Fruit
Wash away the night.

Drive-in
Guzzle gin
Commit a little mortal sin
It’s good for the soul.

(Bridge)
And oh, it gets so damn lonely
When you’re on a plane alone
And if I had the money, Honey
I’d strap you in beside me
And never ever leave you
Leave you at home all alone and crying.

Ten speed
No need
My pick-up gets me where I please
Chuggin’ down the street.

But I’ll be leavin’
In a little while
So close your eyes and I’ll
Be back real soon

(Repeat bridge)
(Repeat first verse)



Cuban Crime of Passion by Jimmy Buffett and Tom Corchron

“There used to be a piano player in Key West named Billy Nine Fingers who told me stories about playing the ferryboat that once ran from Key West to Havana. It made me jealous that I hadn’t been around during the wild days of Havana. One day I was reading an article in the Miami Herald about a murder that had taken place in Hialeah in which a love triangle had ended in bloodshed. The reporter called it a “Cuban Crime of Passion.” - Jimmy

Billy Voltaire was a piano player up from Miami way
He used to play in the bars, he could sound like the stars
The ladies would pay and pay
Then one night he did wind up playin’ in Havana town
And nobody knew, least Billy Voltaire that these were his final sounds.

‘Cause he met up with Meritta, a dancer in from the Coast
Half woman, half child, she drove him half wild
He loved that lady the most
‘Til one night he did find her in the arms of Shrimper Dan
So he pulled a knife, took poor Danny’s life
And then he turned his own cold hand.

(Chorus)
And it’s just a Cuban crime of passion
Messy and old fashioned
Yeah, that’s what the papers did say
It’s just a Cuban crime of passion
Anejo and knives a slashin’
But that’s what the people like to read about
Up in America, up in America.

Well, they never found Meritta, some people say she got ill
And Billy Voltaire had no one to claim him, he was buried on pauper’s hill
And no one talks about ‘em no more, it happened just a week ago
But people get by and people get high
In the tropics they come and they go.

(Repeat chorus)



Why Don’t We Get Drunk by Marvin Gardens

“This song was written as a piece of total satire when I did my first album in Nashville. I was hearing a lot of very suggestive country songs-in particular, Conway Twitty’s “Let’s Go All The Way.” I figured I would write a song that would leave no doubt in anybody’s mind. I thought back to a late night in an Atlanta diner where I was eating and watching this out-of-focus businessman trying to pick up a hooker. That’s all the inspiration I needed.” - Jimmy

I really do appreciate the fact you’re sittin’ here
Your voice sounds so wonderful
But your face don’t look too clear
So, Bar maid, bring a pitcher, another round o’ brew
Honey, why don’t we get drunk and screw.

(Chorus)
Why don’t we get drunk and screw
I just bought a water bed, it’s filled up for me and you
They say you are a snuff queen, Honey, I don’t think that’s true
So, why don’t we get drunk and screw.
(Pick it Coral Reefers here we go…)

(Instrumental)

(Repeat chorus)



Peanut Butter Conspiracy by Jimmy Buffett

Lookin’ back at my hard luck days
I really do have to laugh
Workin’ in a dive for twenty-six dollars
Spendin’ it all on grass
We were hungry hard luck heroes
Tryin’ just to stay alive
So we’d go down to the corner grocery
This is how we’d survive.

(Chorus)
Who’s gonna steal the peanut butter
I’ll get a can of sardines
Runnin’ up and down the aisle of the Mini-Mart
Stickin’ food in our jeans
We never took more than we could eat
There was plenty left on the racks
We all swore if we ever got rich
We would pay the Mini-Mart back
Yes Sir, yes Sir
We would pay the Mini-Mart back.

It was a two man operation
Had it all down on a note
Ricky would watch the big round mirror
And I’d fill up my coat
Then we’d head for the check-out aisle
With a lemon and a bottle of beer
Into the car got to make it on home
‘Cause supper time is gettin’ near.
(Repeat chorus)

I guess every good picker has had some hard times
I have had my share
It’s really kinda funny to laugh at it now
But I don’t wanna go back there
So every now and then when I’m in a grocery
I’ll take a little but not much
‘Cause you never know when the hard times will hit ya
And I don’t want to lose my touch.
(Repeat chorus and fade with adlib)



They Don’t Dance Like Carmen No More by Jimmy Buffett

“I loved Carmen Miranda before I knew her name. Her hat was filled with fruit piled up to the sky. I guess this song came out of my “Cuban period” when I first got to Key West and came in contact with the Latin passion for fun.” - Jimmy

Walkin’ down new streets the music is loud
Neon signs bring in tumultuous crowds
But I’m just an old man, I’d probably get sore
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen no more.

She and old Cougie, my what a pair
Doin’ the Rhumba as no one else dared
Slidin’ and glidin’ ‘cross Hollywood floors
But they don’t dance like Carmen no more.

She had a big hat, my it was high
Had bananas and mangos all piled to the sky
And how she could balance them, I wouldn’t dare
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen nowhere

But the lady’s not with us, she died long ago
And they don’t run her movies on late midnight shows
‘Cause the kids would get restless, and the grown-ups would snore
‘Cause they don’t dance like Carmen no more.

(Repeat second verse)



I Have Found Me a Home by Jimmy Buffett

“I bought a red bike shortly after I decided to stay in Key West, and it served me well. Key West has changed drastically from the days when you didn’t have to lock up your bike, but it’s still the best place I know to ride. The streets are filled with the fragrances of exotic trees and aromas from Cuban and Bahamian kitchens. In all the traveling I have done and all the places I have lived, it still feels like home.” - Jimmy

The days drift by
They don’t have names
And none of the streets here look the same
And there are so many quiet places
And smilin’ eyes match the smilin’ faces.

(Chorus)
And I have found me a home
Yes, I have found me a home
And you can have the rest of everything I own
‘Cause I have found me a home.

My old red bike
Gets me around
To the bars and the beaches of my town
And there aren’t many reasons I would leave
Yes, I have found me some peace.

And the ladies aren’t demanding there
They never ask too much
And when you’re coming off a cold love
That’s sure a nice warm touch.

(Chorus)

The days drift by
They don’t have names
And none of the streets here look the same
And there aren’t many reasons I would leave
Yes, I have found me some peace
Yes, I have found me a home.



My Lovely Lady by Jimmy Buffett

When I pay my bills
Gonna leave these Tennessee hills
Take my lady to the sea
That’s where we both come from
That’s where we both belong
Think I’ll go back to the Keys.

(Chorus)
‘Cause I don’t want the thing that brings confusion
Where people recognize you on a plane
All I want’s the quiet and the comforts
That livin’ with my lovely lady brings.

Somehow we survived the double talk and jive
Things are looking better all the time
I owe her all I can ’cause she made me understand
The simple way that we should live our lives.

(Chorus)

Let me tell you now she can eat her own weight up in crab meat
And there’s plenty of that down there by the sea
Well, we’re sailing in those warm December breezes
Sendin’ picture post cards back to Tennessee.

(Repeat chorus)



Death Of An Unpopular Poet by Jimmy Buffett

“A lot of people ask who the man was in The Death of An Unpopular poet. It’s not one particular person, it’s a lot of people. People who never got their rewards fincinally. They payed a lot of dues but never stayed around long enough to spend it.” - Jimmy in Nashville, TN 1974

I once knew a poet
Who lived before his time
He and his dog spooner
Would listen as he’d rhyme
Words to make you happy
Words to make you cry
And Then one day the poet suddenly did die

But he left behind a closet
Filled with verse and rhymes
And through some strange transaction
One was printed in the times
And everybody’s searchin’
For the king of underground
Well they found him down in Florida
With a tombstone for a crown

And Everybody knows a line
From his book that cost four ninety-nine
I wonder if he knows he’s doin’
Quite this fine

’cause his books are all best sellers
And his poems were turned to song
Had his brother on a talk show
Though they never got along
And now he’s called immortal
Yes he’s even taught in school
They say he used his talents
A most proficient tool

But he left all of his royalties
To spooner his ol’ hound
Growin’ old on steak and bacon
In a doghouse ten feet ’round
And everybody wonders
Did he really lose his mind
No he was just a poet who lived before his time
Yes He was just a poet who lived before his time