Down To Earth

Down To Earth Tracks

  1. The Christian
    The Christian

    It's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
    Didn't you forget the golden rule
    You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
    But he's a little smart for you to fool

    You complain how you forgets the gospel
    You remind them seek and you shall find
    Maybe youth will have a time for seeking
    After they clean up what you left behind

    Cause it's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
    Didn't you forget the golden rule
    You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
    But he's a little smart for you to fool

    You were right there when the plate was passed last Sunday
    That's the second time you've been to church all year
    Could you really call yourself a Christian
    If charity cost half as much as beer
    Hey

    You pray a little more as you grow older
    You get religion as your hair turns gray
    But you don't need to worry about hereafter
    Just worry what you're going to do today

    Cause it's a hell of a time to be thinking about heaven
    Didn't you forget the golden rule
    You've been acting like Jesus owes you a favor
    But he's a little smart for you to fool
    Yes my friend I think you've blown your cool

  2. Ellis Dee (He Ain't Free)
    ELLIS DEE
    Jimmy Buffett, Buzz Cason

    Why is he cussin' and calling disgustin'
    The city that is now his home
    He never smiles or keeps up with styles
    He is black and he is all alone
    And you ask why he's this way
    Well brother you're too blind to see
    It's 'cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

    Get out of the street don't get high on my beat
    Go on home the policeman warns
    Just 'cause you're poor why do you declare war
    I can't help the way you were born
    Why are they holdin' him down
    He's spending his life on his knees
    'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

    Chorus:
    Got to help Ellis
    Got to help Ellis
    You know we got to help Ellis Ellis Dee
    Try and help Ellis you and me
    Got to get to Ellis hear his plea
    Try and help Ellis get free

    Ellis got hooked he got booked and he shook
    In his cold little shivery cell
    While out on the street in that same funky beat
    Mister pusher was doing well
    And Ellis Junior cries tears his daddy can't see
    'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

    Chorus

    'Cause Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me
    No Ellis Dee ain't free like you and me

  3. Richard Frost
    Richard Frost

    Richard frost left alabama heading west to find his fame
    Only got to oklahoma and that's where he changed his name
    Now he plays a little tavern all the drunks say he's a star
    Hollywood forgot his number now he's stuck in kelly's bar

    But is he happy my friend
    Or does he pretend?
    Is every song a routine chore?
    Well he every decide
    To go and not hide
    Behind his fear and kelly's backstage door

    Richard frost draws 90 people and on weekends lines grow long
    Singing loud and laughing with them the crowd reacts to every song
    Bigger worlds (? ) can't help but make you more aware of what you see
    Afraid of what's beyond just eyesight keeps the worlds in harmony

    La da da da da da
    La da da da da da
    La da da da da da da da

    La da da da da da
    La da da da da da
    La da da da da da da da

  4. The Missionary
    THE MISSIONARY
    Jimmy Buffett

    I didn't know we were at war
    I've been away so long
    Trying to help once lost men
    Distinguish right from wrong
    I didn't know we killed the men
    Our leaders proud and strong
    The situation's changed my friend
    I've been away too long

    I taught my friends
    How we had gained respect for every man
    And freedom flowed like jungle streams
    While peace embraced the land
    I told them how we'd learn to change
    Our sword blades into plows
    I told them how they should learn from us
    What should I tell them now

    Chorus:
    'Cause I didn't know we were at war
    I've been away so long
    Trying to help once lost men
    Distinguish right from wrong

    The jungle silence shut them off
    From civilized mankind
    Their nakedness was no disgrace
    No censors could I find
    The population lived in peace
    All brothers on their own
    And now that I have seen the mess
    I don't think I'll go home

    'Cause I didn't know we were at war
    I've been away so long
    I told them they should learn from us
    I think I told them wrong

  5. A Mile High in Denver
    A MILE HIGH IN DENVER
    Jimmy Buffett

    Sittin' on a pocket full of hard earned wages
    Lookin' at the world through magazine pages
    I heard a lot about the mountains and the Colorado range
    Made this stop for personal reasons
    I didn't know I'd catch the changin' of the seasons
    Where winter dictates everything from frost to naked trees

    I'm about a mile high in Denver
    Where the rock meets timberline
    I've walked this ground from town to town
    Just to finally call it mine

    Lookin' for the cloud with a styrofoam lining
    Hopin' that the sun will keep on shining
    Leading me to distant peace that waits so patiently
    Need a little love to try some givin'
    Try a little love and then start livin'
    Things I feared so long ago
    When everything was wrong

    I'm about a mile high in Denver
    Where the rock meets timberline
    I've walked this ground from town to town
    Tonight I'll call it mine

    Sittin' on a pocket full of hard earned wages
    Lookin' at the world through magazine pages
    I heard a lot about the mountains and the Colorado range
    Need a little time to try some livin'
    Try a little love and then start givin'
    Things I feared so long ago
    When everything was wrong
    I'm about a mile high in Denver
    Where the rock meets timberline
    Where God and trees create the breeze
    Tonight I'll call it mine

  6. The Captain and the Kid
    THE CAPTAIN AND THE KID
    Jimmy Buffett

    I never use to miss the chance
    to climb upon his knee and listen
    to the many tales of life upon the sea.

    We'd go sailing back on barkentines and
    talk of things he did, tomorrow just a
    day away for the Captain and the Kid.

    His world had gone from sailing ships
    to raking mom's back yard;
    he never could adjust to land although
    he tried so hard.

    We both were growing older then and
    wiser with our years;
    that's when I came to understand
    the course his heart still steers.

    He died about a month ago
    while winter filled the air,
    and though I cried, I was so proud
    to love a man so rare.

    He's somewhere on the ocean now,
    the place he ought to be;
    with one hand on the starboard rail,
    he's waving back at me.
    For the Captain and this kid.

  7. Captain America
    CAPTAIN AMERICA
    Jimmy Buffett

    Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion
    He looks a little different from anything you've seen
    He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation
    He's got the brains of Einstein and brawn of Mister Clean

    He's a lightin flash who makes the dash from one coast to the other
    To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother
    Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
    Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man

    He wears a mask his clothes are weird and some folks call him hokie
    But he is hip and just can't dig the okie from Muskogie
    Captain will help anyone a friend or a stranger
    Now number one without a gun he's bypassed the Lone Ranger
    He's a do do good who loves apple pie and kisses little babies
    He'll guard you against everything from atom bombs to rabies

    Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
    Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man

    Can you tell me where I might find my friend and companion
    He looks a little different from anything you've seen
    He likes to beat the bass drum for justice and salvation
    He's got the brains of Einstein and brawn of Mister Clean
    He's a lightin flash who makes the dash from one coast to the other
    To stop a crime or lend a dime or help his aging mother

    Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
    Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out, Captain America's our man

  8. Ain't He a Genius
    Ain't He a Genius

    See the lady
    Smiles as if to tell
    Her son remembers everyone
    Treats 'em all quite well
    He never asked for promises
    And now his fame is wide
    And everyone who knew him well shares a little pride

    Ain't he a genius?
    The boy's become a star
    And he smiles upon the faces
    Who wish they could go far

    Not long ago they criticized
    The genius only wrote
    And now they listen spellbound
    With lumps caught in their throats

    His virtue was sheer poverty
    His vice was reading plays
    While other children starved and fought
    He learned just what to say
    Through tension and confession
    He beat the monster down
    Then surfaced in society no longer underground

    \ Now they remember
    Talk only of his good
    While jealousy flows in their veins
    And says I wish I could

    Ain't he a genius?

  9. Turnabout

    TURNABOUT
    Jimmy Buffett

    As large as life she stood there
    Kissed my cheek and called my old nickname
    And though several years had passed
    Both of us still looked quite the same
    I said Hi, relaxed a bit then asked her how she'd been all these years
    She told me she was feeling fine and came to see a friend who lived up here

    She told me she had finished school
    And then went on to college for a year
    I asked if she had married
    And slowly down her cheek there came a tear
    She said just an itchy eye it must be the weather way up here
    Told her I can't stand the cold
    It freezes me and I can't feel my ears

    We talked a bit about Mobile
    And thought about how it has never changed
    I told her I was comin' home to spend some time
    And hoped it wouldn't rain
    She asked if she could see me then
    And we could spend some time now and then
    Because I lived so far away
    Was still no chance why we could not be friends

    I drove her to the waiting plane
    And watched that big jet streaking through the sky
    Thought about the sad young girl
    And the time that I just saw her cry
    That flame must still be burning bright
    I think I'll catch a later flight today
    It's time for me to go on home and spend a day or two down by the bay.

  10. There's Nothin' Soft About Hard Times
    THERE'S NOTHING SOFT ABOUT HARD TIMES
    Jimmy Buffett

    Every day held a new surprise
    I watched the hunger burning in my sister's eyes
    The paste-board shack we called home
    Would haunt me in my dreams
    'Cause there's nothing soft about hard times

    We never knew anything groovy
    A dime meant bread and not a movie
    The muscles that controlled my smile were rarely ever used
    'Cause there's nothing soft about hard times

    Had to go 'cause I could see I wasn't meant for poverty
    The family ties were broken soon and I went off to find the moon

    So I sit on a bench in Jackson Square
    I drink my wine and I breathe the midnight air
    Tomorrow I'll just hit the street and bum another dime
    'Cause there's nothing soft about hard times

    Had to go 'cause I could see I wasn't meant for poverty
    The family ties were broken soon and I went off to find the moon

    So I sit on a bench in Jackson Square
    I drink my wine and I breathe the midnight air
    Tomorrow I'll just hit the street and bum another dime
    'Cause there's nothing soft about hard times.

  11. I Can't Be Your Hero Today
    I CAN'T BE YOUR HERO TODAY
    Jimmy Buffett

    It's never been the same since you returned from dreamin'
    With your nursery rhyme excuses and your picture postcards gleamin'
    Tellin' everyone who looks your way 'bout people and their sinnin'
    While your left field verse is fallin' in proportion to your winnin'

    And I can't be your hero today
    I'm through with the simple games you play
    It just might take some time to even up the score
    But I can't be your soldier home from war

    And there you sit shining that there's still hope for us
    While nature holds the handcuffs on a Capricorn and Taurus
    There's nothing you can do or say to get me to your camp
    Go fill up all your savings books and buy yourself a lamp

    And I can't be your hero today
    Your wholesale price is much too high to pay
    Bargain basement atmosphere is no way to sell love
    And I can't be your superman above

    No I can't be your hero today
    That is all I really want to say
    Go find a leading man who wants to play
    But I can't be your hero today

  12. Truckstop Salvation
    TRUCKSTOP SALVATION
    Jimmy Buffett

    Straight-laced leather-faced he rolled in like he owned the two-bit town
    Dollar bills bulging from his bell bottomed jeans
    The population they gathered 'round
    Nothing this exciting since a fertilizer truck
    Blew a front tire and landed in the creek

    Everybody talkin' everybody strainin'
    Tryin' to get a little peek
    It's just the world they'll never know
    Not a country fair side show
    Reality they'll somehow never see
    He's what they've tried to kill
    With their Bibles and their stills
    But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free

    Payin' for the gas he quickly shouted thanks
    And continued on his journey once again
    Just about the time a siren fast approached and
    The pot bellied sheriff he whizzed right in
    With his self inflicted grammar started shoutin'
    Accusations at the long haired greasy looking ape
    While a local DJ from the fifty watt station got the
    whole damn thing on tape

    It's just the world they'll never know
    Not a country fair side show
    Reality they'll somehow never see
    He's what they've tried to kill
    With their Bibles and their stills
    But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free

    The holy roller preacher told the eager congregation
    That the devil has passed right through their nest
    But the teenage girls with their locks in curls were
    A talkin' 'bout that hair upon his chest
    Now the kids got their cookies while the preacher
    Saved some souls and the story spread to everyone in sight
    Commotion was the word and everybody heard
    He was gone before the night

    It's just the world they'll never know
    Not a country fair side show
    Reality they'll somehow never see
    He's what they've tried to kill
    With their Bibles and their stills
    But he's not weird just a man that's bein' free