Living And Dying Album

And the wino and I know the pain of street singin'

Like the door-to-door salesman knows the pains of bell ringin'

Strange situation, wild occupation

Livin' my life like a song

The coffee is strong at the Cafe Du Monde

And the donuts are too hot to touch

But just like a fool, when those sweet goodies cool

I eat till I eat way too much

'Cause I'm livin' on things that excite me

Be they pastry or lobster or love

I'm just tryin' to get by being quiet and shy

In a world full of pushin' and shove

And the wino and I know the pain of back bustin'

Like the farmer knows the pain of his pickup truck rustin'

Strange situation, wild occupation

Livin' my life like a song

Sweet sen~orita won't you please come with me

Back to the island honey, back to the sea

Back to the only place that I want to be

And the wino and I know the joy of the ocean

Like a boy knows the joy of his milkshake in motion

Strange situation, wild occupation

Livin' my life like a song

Yes it's a strange situation, wild occupation

Livin' my life like a song

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@SONG: West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown

@CHORDS: Sean Costello (costells@guvax.georgetown.edu)

West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown

By: Jimmy Buffett

1974

 

Standin' on side of the Highway 4 exit

A Lady in a tie-dye with a bag by her side

Not really lookin' like anything special

Saw Tennessee tags and she waved for a ride

Sat right beside me as the 'meter hit sixty

'Splainin' her travels and her family background

When she got through, I could not help but thinkin'

She's a long way from the west Nashville grand ballroom gown

Father had money and her mother had love

Channeled entirely to her dear sister Dove

Twenty-two years in society's plan

Was cancelled with a swing of her dear mother's hand

Six hours later, we hit Cincinatti

Yawnin' she woke and then asked where we were

When she found out, she said, "I must be goin'"

This close to Nashville was too close for her

So I stopped by the roadside and I gave her five dollars

She took it then kissed me and gave me a note

She told me just to read it and mail it Nashville

On old looseleaf paper to her mother she wrote:

She said: Mama, I'm fine, if you happen to wonder

I don't have much money but I still get around

I haven't made church in near thirty-six Sundays

So fuck all those west Nashville grand ballroom gowns

(she's a long way from the west Nashville grand ballroom gown)

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@SONG: Saxophones

@CHORDS: Mike A. Hall (mhall@moe.coe.uga.edu)

Saxophones

By: Jimmy Buffett

1974

I cut my teeth on Gumbo rock, Benny Spellman and Dr. John

Sweet Erma Thomas and Frogman Henry

Used to boogie woogie all night long

Though I love rock n' roll the acoustic guitar

Was the only way I had of becomin' a star

I'm doin' really nice and travellin' around

But they won't play my record in my old home town

But if I had saxophones

Yeah, big baritone cleanin' up the muddy breaks

If I had saxophones

I could get some recognition from that Mobile, Alabama D.J.

Livin' by the ocean, sometimes I get the notion

To take my Janey downtown

We hang out in a funky little bar

They call it the "Shipwreck Lounge"

Well we get kind of drunk and we play rock n' roll

Grabbin' everybody right down in his soul

When we get to cookin' somethin's still wrong

There's still somethin' missin' from them good ole songs

But if we had saxophones

Big baritone cleanin' up the muddy breaks

If we had saxophones

I could make that joint shimmy like a big California earthquake

Yeah if we had saxophones

Yeah, big baritone cleanin' up the muddy breaks

If we had saxophones

I could get some recognition from that Mobile, Alabama D.J.

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@SONG: God's Own Drunk

@CHORDS: Mike A. Hall (mhall@moe.coe.uga.edu)

God's Own Drunk

By: Lord Buckley

1974

"Well, like I explained to y'all before I ain't no drinkin' man.

I tried it once, and it got me highly irregular

and I swore I'd never do it again.

But I promised my brother-in-law that I'd go up and watch

his still while he went into town to vote.

It was right up on the mountain where the map said it would be.

Friends let me tell you one thing though,

it wadn't no ordinary still.

It stood up that mountainside like...

like a huge golden opal,

God's yellar moon was a' shinin' on the cool clear evenin',

God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens

and, like I explained to you once before, I ain't no drinkin' man,

But, temptation got the best of me, and I took a slash...

(wshew!... woah...)

That yellar whiskey runnin' down my throat like

honeydew vine water, and I took another slash.

Took another and another and another,

'fore you knew it I'd downed one whole jug o' that shit

and commenced to get hot flashes.

Goosepimples was runnin' up and down my body and a feelin' came

over me like, somethin' I'd never experienced before,

It's like, like I was in love,

("why don't we have a little love Mike [Utley]")

In love for the first time, with anything that moved.

Animate, in-animate it didn't matter.

It's like there's a great neon sign flashin' on and off in my

brain sayin, "Jimmy Buffett there's a great day a comin'..."

'Cause I was drunk.

Now I wadn't, uh, knee-crawlin', slip-slidin', reggy-youngin',

commode-huggin' drunk, I was God's own drunk, and a fearless man;

And that's when I first saw the bear.

He was a Kodiak lookin' fella 'bout 19 feet tall

he rambled up over the hill 'spectin' me to do one of two

things: flip or fly, I didn't do either one. It hung him up.

He starts sniffin' 'round my body tryin' to smell fear,

but he ain't gonna smell no fear, 'cause I'm God's own drunk

and a fearless man. It hung him up.

He looked me right in my eyes and my eyes was a

lot redder than his was. It hung him up.

So I approached him and I said, "Mr. Bear, I love every hair on

your 27 acre body. I know you got a lotta friends over there on

the other side of the hill. There's ole' Rear Bear, Tall Bear,

Freddy Bear, Kelly Jair, Relly Bear, Smelly the Bear, Smokey

the Bear, Pokey the Bear; I want you to go back over there

tonight and tell 'em I'm feelin' right. You tell 'em I love each

and every one of 'em like a brother and a sister; but if they

give me any trouble tonight, I'm gonna run every Goddamned one of

'em off the hill."

He took two steps backwards and didn't know what to think.

Neither did I, but, being charitable and cautious,

well hell, I approached him again.

I said, "Mr. Bear, you know in the eyes of the Lord, we're both

beasts when it comes right down to it. So I want you to be my

buddy, 'Buddy Bear.'"

So I took ole' Buddy Bear by his island sized paw

and I led him over to the still.

Now he's a' sniffin' around that thing 'cause he's smellin'

somethin' good.

I gave him one of them jugs of honeydew vine water, he downed it

upright, (looked like a big damn bear in the circus sippin'

sasparilly in the moonlight.)

I gave him another and another and another

'fore I knew it, he'd downed eight of 'em and commenced

to do the "bear dance." Two sniffs, a snort, a fly, a turn

and a grunt; and it was so simple like the jitterbug it plumb

evaded me.

And we worked ourselves into a tumultuous uproar

and I's awful tired, went over to the hillside, and I laid down,

went to sleep, slept for 4 hours, and dreamt me some tremulous dreams

And when I woke up, Oh, there was God's yellar moon a' shinin'

on the clear cool evenin'.

And God's little lanterns just a' twinklin' on and off in the heavens,

And my buddy the bear was a' missin'...

Yeah, you want to know somethin' else friends and neighbors,

so was that still.

-- Spoken:

"that's a take..."

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Disclaimer -(please read)-:

These chord arrangments were created for private use. Anyone who

distributes them or copies them is in risk of violating copyright

laws. We claim no responsibility for what others do with these

lyrics and chord arrangements.

Thank you,

The GCC authors

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- End of the LADI34T GCC section - 9/8/94