A Pirate Looks at Forty

About A Pirate Looks at Forty

"A Pirate Looks at Forty" is a song written and performed by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was first released on his 1974 album A1A and "Presents to Send You" is the B-side of the single. Buffett wrote the song about Phillip Clark, at the Chart Room where Buffett first performed after his move to Key West, Florida. The song contains the bittersweet confession of a modern-day, washed-up drug smuggler as he looks back on the first 40 years of his life, expresses lament that his preferred vocation of piracy on the high seas was long gone by the time he was born, and ponders his future. For radio play, the song was shortened by deleting the fourth verse for the single release. The song is one of Buffett's more popular, and is part of "The Big 8" that he has played at almost all of his concerts, and always during the second set. more »

Year:

1974

3:57

4,008 Views

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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
Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasures few have ever seen
Most of them dream, most of them dream

Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder, there's nothing to plunder
I'm an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late
I've done a bit of smuggling, 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

And I have been drunk now for over two weeks
I passed out and I rallied and I sprung a few leaks
But I got stop wishing, got to go fishing, down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends

I go for younger women, lived with several a while
Though I ran them away, they'd come back one day
Still could manage to smile
Just takes a while, just takes a while

Mother, mother ocean, after all the years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

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Jimmy Buffett

James William "Jimmy" Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer–songwriter, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffett has recorded hit songs including "Margaritaville" (ranked 234th on the Recording Industry Association of America's list of "Songs of the Century") and "Come Monday". He has a devoted base of fans known as "Parrotheads". more »

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