The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothing to plunder, I’m an over-forty victim of fate.
I had forgotten how much I admire Jimmy Buffett. A special edition of the TV news/magazine show “60 Minutes” profiled him the other night, and I just got around to watching it. I’m not sure what it is about Buffett’s music that relaxes me so, or why so many devoted “Parrotheads” feel the same way, but questioning such things is madness anyway. Easily pushing 60 years of age, Buffett still looks about 40, and still has the gleam in his eye that you normally see in an ambitious, much younger man. I’m not as fond of his new album as of his older work, but it’s clear he can still sing and play as well as ever. Wish he’d write some more songs like the ones that run through my head all the time.
The song I quoted above has special meaning for me. I often feel exactly that way, that I’m really a man from two hundred years ago, who somehow got delayed by Delta Airlines enroute to his birth and wound up here in the 21st century, still waiting for his luggage. The days of real sailing ships, except as a novelty, are all but gone, and I never had the chance to climb the rigging. I think I would have made a great sailor, and might have even been a halfway decent privateer.
About 11 years ago, I was walking through a sort of festival in Medeira Beach, Florida with Yvette; we’d known each other only a few weeks at the time. We passed a little stand where a Jimmy Buffett sound-alike was singing that song, and he was doing a great job, it sounded terrific. Yvette noticed how much I liked it. An hour or so later, she handed me a T-shirt with the lyrics to that song across the front, along with some great pirate artwork. She’d looked through every T-shirt stand in the place to find it. Just after my move to the new apartment, while I was doing all my laundry, I happened upon that shirt. It’s in horrible shape because I wore it until it was unwearable. For some reason, I still can’t toss it out. Sentimental idiot.
Tony is about the same today as yesterday. He seems to have renewed strength, is eating reasonably well, and has found his purr again. I hope he takes his medicine as peacefully today as he did yesterday. He’s in for a lot of kitty treats regardless.
The tires on my car are really beginning to annoy me. For the third time in as many weeks, I am driving on my spare tire. I don’t even see a puncture in this one, so I have no idea what happened. Why can’t we just put solid rubber tires on cars and be done with this silly compressed-air nonsense? It’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Permalink
Scottie, you dont want to be up in that rigging. You’d tip the boat over;-)
Nice t-shirt. Nice reminder of young love.
I’m sorry to say, but as I get older, I might well listen to Merkin C&W sometimes.
Permalink
Hey man I think I have the same shirt! “Mother mother ocean”
My favourite Buffet song too and I never tire of listening to it.
Permalink
You want to get run-flats, like wot I’ve got on my Mini.
Permalink
love you scotty!
when you get on my boat i won’t make you run up the mast!
i haven’t got one!
cheers groover,
h.
Permalink
What a great story! That “without my luggage” line still has me grinning. Glad I found your blog.
Come see me sometime at http://azparrotheads.blogspot.com. I’ll try to make you smile!
Permalink
I was avoiding your website because I didn’t want to hear bad news about Tony. I’m glad to hear he’s still purring.
I like country and western, but they keep playing a song with lyrics something like, “If I could grant you just one wish, I’d have you see the way you kiss.” Now that is the dumbest wish to grant for anyone and it makes me imagine the guy staring at her (it’s a woman singing the song), “now let me get this straight, a genie offered to grant one wish and you made it so I get an out of body experience while kissing? Exactly how stupid are you?”
Permalink
It’s senty-mental, Qov, with the emphasis on mental.
Check your parking location Scott: a friend of mine had mysterious flattening tyres for weeks and eventually discovered someone idn’t like where he was parking and was letting his tyres down to teach him a lesson. I don’t know why he didn’t choose English, maybe written down and tucked under the wiper…
Permalink
I just happend upon this blog by chance as I was looking for the to that song online. My roomate had wrongly cited them on one of her profiles and I was correcting her out of love for Jimmy Buffett. Anyways, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciated your story and can relate to the way you feel, because my Dad is much the same way. I’m in college now, but when I lived at home I was always around Jimmy Buffet with my family. He has been a huge part of my life and everyone in my families. I agreed with you on his new stuff at first, but if you give it an open listen you can still feel him in it as much as the classic “Songs you know by heart” stuff. This may have been odd, but I had the urge to comment.
Permalink
Hello, I know that I’m about 5 years too late to this post, but I’ve been looking all over for the shirt that you were speaking of! Where in the world can I find it? My dad used to have it when I was a kid, and I want one soooo bad but I cannot find it! Please let me know where I can find one!