I think I best explain to you all my obsessions with all things Jimmy. I remember - at least since living with Turtle Lady that people think a Wisconsin is a little weird to like CARIBBEAN SOUL Music. But for me is it a little paradise of sound... It is the closest that I will ever come to a vacation - and I can do it anytime I want to. Some of his lyrics are just fun but a lot of them are really cool and meaningful to me. (I admit I am a total loser for all this).
Since I have you attention - I will discuss. This is not about the popular song : Cheeseburger in Paradise, Margarittaville or Lets Get Drunk and Screw... But the other songs.
First favorite song: a ballad known as Island (from the Coconut Telegraph Record)
Island I see you in the distance
I feel that your existence
Is not unlike my own
Island they say no man is like you
They say you stand alone
Sometimes I feel that way too
*snip*
Island I see you in the moonlight
Silhouettes of ships in the night
Just make me long that much more
Island I see you in all of my dreams
But I'm a man with no means to reach your distant shore
When the need for love
Heart and soul accompaniment
That seems to make me different from you
I've tried to build bridges
But they all fell down
I've taken to the air on wings of silver
But always hit the ground
Instrumental
Well I tried to book passage, but you have no ports
And I tried to sail in but your wind and waters
Tore my sails and broke my oars.
*snip*
There is something haunting about this song for me and the tune is so easy to sing. It really gets stuck in your head. I guess it is kinda a sad song though I am not sure I view it that way... It seems both happy and sad.
The next song is kinda a theme song for me (though I realize that I am not 40 yet! ) But there is something surreal about the feelings he sings about. I guess for me it is like a way to explain how I sometime feel out of place. I am a water person..a total water person. I love to hear it - smell it - see it. It calms me down and makes me happy.
Here is: A Pirate looks at 40 (A1A)
Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters
since I was three feet tall.
You've seen it all, you've seen it all.
*snip*
Yes, I am a pirate two hundred years too late.
The cannons don't thunder there's nothin' to plunder
I'm an over forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late.
I've done a bit of smugglin'
I've run my share of grass.
I made enough money to buy Miami,
But I pissed it away so fast,
Never meant to last, never meant to last.
I have been drunk now for over two weeks,
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks,
But I've got to stop wishin',
Got to go fishin', I'm down to rock bottom again.
Just a few friends, just a few friends.
*snip*
Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupations
just not around.
I feel like I've drowned,
Gonna head uptown.
Total awesomeness... I love this song so much. I dance to it too... :-) (scary though, I know)
Okay -I think that I have tortured you all enough - except for one last song. This one is kind of a fun one. One of those classic play on words. I could talk about almost every song of his - but hey , I would like to KEEP my friends as friends. I know that most people probably have to real interest in Jimmy ad his music except for the occasional party tune but I am a diehard fan - please don't hold it against me. :-P
The Weather is Here: I wish you were beautiful:
He worked hard all year just wanted a few weeks alone
But his old lady's into modeling,
She can't stay away from the phone
Besides she bitches about the mosquitoes
She says "Down there there is nothing to do"
Her goddamn phone never stops ringing
He'll try the service in a day maybe two
Well, he's on his third drink before the
wheels of the plane leave the ground
Making points with the stewardess
climbing over Long Island Sound
She's also spending some time on the island
Too much city madness gives her the blues
They make a date to go dancing and dining
Seems neither has that much to lose
Chorus
The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
My thoughts aren't too clear but don't run away
My girlfiend's a bore, my job is too dutiful
Hell, nobody's perfect would you like to play
I feel together today
Well now that was just the start of
a well-deserved over due binge
Meanwhile back in the city certain
people are starting to cringe
His lawyers are calling his parents
His girlfriend doesn't know what to think
His partners are studing their options
He's just singing and ordering drinks
Chorus
The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear life's easy today
The beer is too cold, the daquiri's too fruitiful
There's no place like home when it's this far away
I don't care what they say
He's going back to New York pack it up
and let everyone know
It was something that he should have done
such a long time ago
Still time to start a new life in the palm trees
Billy Clyde wasn't insane
And it doesn't work out there'll never be any doubt
That the pleasure was worth all the pain
Chorus
The weather is here I wish you were beautiful
The skies are too clear, life is easy today
The beer is too cold, the daquiri's too fruitiful
There's no place like home when it's this far away
I need time for to play
Bye now... tech.