Jimmy Buffett - A1a Chords & Tabs

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
From: mhall@moe.coe.uga.edu (Mike Hall)

 This is something a few of us are in the process of completing for the
Jimmy Buffett newsgroup.  Once completed, we'll put his entire compilation
of chord arrangements onto an anonymous FTP site and WWW page.
  Whoever's interested or likes what they see, please email me for more
information.

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Great Chords Compilation (GCC) of the "alt.fan.jimmy-buffett" Usenet
newsgroup.  Comments and questions to Mike A. Hall .

(-- please read disclaimer at end of document --)
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@ALBUM: A1A
@SONG: Makin' Music For Money
@CHORDS: Sean Costello (costells@guvax.georgetown.edu)
Makin' Music For Money
By:  Alex Harvey
1974

Intro: E (See below for tab)
E
When I woke up this mornin'
      A                E
I was tired as I could be
  B
I think I was countin' my money
       A                       E
When I should a' been countin' sheep

My agent he just called me
And told me what I should be
If I would make my music for money
Instead of makin' music for me

Chorus:
                A                        E
     I said, "I know that this may sound funny
         A                           E
     But money don't mean nothin' to me
             A                 E
     I won't make my music for money
                   B                 E
     No, I'm gonna make my music for me"

He said, "The people only buy the love songs
Rock n' Roll and not too long"
He said, "Son you got to be commercial
If you want to turn the people on"

And I said, "Turnin' on the people
Now that's a beautiful place to be
But if I spend my time makin' them up a rhyme
Well, who's gonna turn on me?"

(Repeat Chorus)

Bridge:  (Use bar/power chords)
         D-E  D-E  D-E-D-B-A---|A-E-G
         D-E  D-E  D-E-D-B-A---|A-E-G

Well now I went up to Country
And I'll tell you all about the scene
I found a place with much charm and much grace
That wasn't touched by the music machine

Whoa, the people were havin' a good time
Makin' music all day long
And nobody cared if they ever got paid
One penny for playin' a song

CHORUS (2x)
Intro tab:
e|---------------------------------------------------|
B|---------------------------------------------------|
G|---------------------------------------------------|
D|-6---9-9--------6---9-9--------6---9-9-------------|
A|-7-------9-7----7-------9-7----7-------9-7-9---7---|
E|---------------------------------------------9-----|

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@SONG: Door Number Three
@CHORDS: Sean Costello  
Door Number Three
By: Jimmy Buffett, Steve Goodman
1974

Intro: C G D G

G
Oh I took a wrong turn, it was the right turn
C                    G
My turn to have me a ball
G
Boys at the shop told me just where to stop
     A7                    D
If I wanted to play for it all
C                             G        C
I didn't know I'd find her on daytime TV
   C                G              D           G
My whole world lies waiting behind door number three

  G
I chose my apparel, I wore a beer barrel
         C                           G
And they rolled me to the very first row
  G
I held a big sign that said, "Kiss me I'm a baker
    D                     G
And Monty I sure need the dough"
       C                                   G                C
Then I grabbed that sucker by the throat until he called on me
          C                G              D           G
'Cause my whole world lies waiting behind door number three

    C                                  G
And I don't want what Jay's got on his table
       C                                  G
Or the box Carol Merrill points to on the floor
   C                                  G
No I'll hold out just as long as I am able
   D                             G
Or until I can unlock that lucky door
            C                   G
Well, she's no big deal to most folks
    D                   G
But she's everything to me
          C                G              D           G
'Cause my whole world lies waiting behind door number three


Oh Monty, Monty, Monty, I am walkin' down your hall
Got beat, lost my seat, but I'm not a man to crawl
Though I didn't get rich, you son of a bitch
I'll be back just wait and see

'Cause my whole world lies waiting behind door number three
Yes my whole world lies waiting behind door number three

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@SONG: Dallas
@CHORDS: Sean Costello (costells@guvax.georgetown.edu)
Dallas
By: Roger Bartlett
1974

     *This song was recorded with a capo 5 guitar, but
     *I've arranged it here for a standard guitar.

Intro: A Asus2
       A                            F#m
If you ever get the chance to go to Dallas
        D               A
Take it from me pass it by
                                          F#m
'Cause you'll only sing the blues down in Dallas
        D                    A
Take it from me don't go and cry

Chorus:
             E
     And I'm leavin' this town as soon as I can
     G                                    A
     Gonna stop off for awhile and see my woman

People do you wrong down in Dallas
I know well they've done it to me
Stealin' all your bread, they're so callous
I know well just look and see

(Repeat chorus)

Bridge:
            D                   G
      Well, people like me just can't be free
          D               G       D A
      The Provo man won't let us be-ee
             D                     G
      If the people who knew could get away
      D                    G          D  E
      I'm real sure they'd heed the day

(instrumental)

Yeah, now come on down and lose your mental balance
Look at me half crazy now
Oh, talkin' to chairs is strange and I know it
Look at me I'm doin' it know

(Repeat Chorus) (3x)

Chord Diagrams:
*************************************************
|x02230| - Asus2           |244222| - F#m
*************************************************

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@SONG: Presents to Send You
@CHORDS: Sean Costello (costells@guvax.georgetown.edu)
Presents To Send You
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

Intro:  G
G
Well now I'm in love with a fast-movin' angel
C                D          G
Dresses like the city girls do
C           D               G          Em
When we're apart there's no ache in my heart
             C              D         G
When we're together we're a hell of a crew

Chorus:
         C     D           G
     And I got presents to send you
     C        D        Em
     Even got money to lend you
               C           D       G
     But honey I can never ever pretend
                            D
     You're not there on my mind

There sits a fifth of Tequila
God I swore I'd never drink it again
But my last little bout I had my hair pulled out
By a man who really wasn't my friend
And I know I'll never see him again

(Repeat chorus)

        F               C            G
Yeah, I thought I might sail down to Bridgetown
           F           C        G
Spend some time in the Barbados sun
       F                        C
But my plans took a skid when I smoked a whole lid
A7                    D
Wound up where I'd begun

(Repeat chorus)

(instrumental)

(Repeat chorus)

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@SONG: Stories We Could Tell
@CHORDS: Sean Costello (costells@guvax.georgetown.edu)
Stories We Could Tell
By: John B. Sebastian
1974

Intro:  D Dsus2
D
Talkin' to myself again
                                A
Wonderin' if this travellin' is good

Is there somethin' else a' doin'
                    D
We'd be doin' if we could


Chorus:
   G             A                D
     But ah, the stories we could tell
         G               A              D
     And if it all blows up and goes to Hell
       G                  A          D             G
     I wish that we could sit upon a bed in some motel
     D             A                D
     Listen to the stories we could tell

D
Stared at that guitar in that museum in Tennessee
                                   A
Nameplate on the glass brought back twenty melodies
D                           G
Scars upon the face told of all the times he fell
D               A                D
Singin' all the stories he could tell

Chorus:
        Ah, the stories he could tell
        And I'll bet you it still rings like a bell
        I wish that we could sit upon a bed in some motel
        And listen to the stories it could tell

So if you're on the road trackin' down your every night
Playin' for a livin' beneath brightly colored lights
And if you ever wonder why you ride the carousel
You do it for the stories you can tell

Chorus:
        Ah, the stories we could tell
        And if it all blows up and goes to Hell
        I wish that we could sit apon a bed in some motel
        And listen to the stories it could tell
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@SONG: Life is Just a Tire Swing
Life is Just a Tireswing
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

 G             A     D
I remember the smell of the creosote plant
      E           F#m    Gdim   E7      A        Bm        Cdim  A
when we'd have to eat on Easter with my crazy old uncle and aunt
G               A         D
They lived in a big house  Antebellum style
        G          D               G      D
and the wind would blow across the old bayou
    A                       D
and I was a tranquil little child

Chorus:
     D                Bm
     Life was just a tire swing
                        G             D
     'Jambalaya' was the only song I could sing
     G                    D
     Black-berry pickin', eatin' fried chicken
           G            D           A
     and I never knew a thing about pain
                     Bm
     Life was just a tire swing

In a few summers my folks packed me off to camp
yeah, me and my cousin' Baxter in our pup tent with a lamp
And in a few days Baxter went home, and he left me by myself
And I knew that I'd stay, it was better that way
and I could get along without any help

(2nd chorus)
     Life was just a tire swing
     'Jambalaya' was the only song I could sing
     Chasin' after sparrows with rubber-tipped arrows
     knowin' I could never hurt a thing
     and life was just a tire swing
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/j/jimmy_buffett/a1a_crd.html ]
Bm       G                 F#m              Em           D
And I've never been west of New Orleans nor east of Pensacola
   G                    F#m                   E7        A
My only contact with the outside world was an R.C.A. Victrola
    Bm                                   A
And Elvis would sing and then I'd dream about expensive cars
    E7
and who would've figured twenty years later
       A                 E7              F#m7
I'd be rubbin' shoulders with the stars
                Bm
Life was just a tire swing


Then the other morning on some Illinois road
I fell asleep at the wheel
But was quickly wakened up by a 'Ma Bell' telephone pole
and a bunch of Grant Wood faces screaming 'Is he still alive?'
But through the window I could see it hangin' from a tree
and I knew that I had survived

Last Chorus:
     Life was just a tire swing
     'Jambalaya's still the best song that I sing
     Black-berry pickin', eatin' fried chicken
     And I finally learned a lot about pain
     'Cause life is just a tire swing
     Life was just a tire swing

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Chord diagrams:
F#m - |xx3222|  F#m7 - |xx2222|  Gdim - |xx2323-----------------|
 Bm - |xxo432|  Cdim - |xx1212|  Em7  - |o2oooo-----------------|
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@SONG: A Pirate Looks at Forty
A Pirate Looks at 40
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

G
Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call
C                                           D     Am7  G
Wanted to sail upon your waters since I was three feet tall
                Am   D  Am7            G
You've seen it all,    you've seen it all

2)
Watched the men who rode you switch from sails to steam
And in your belly you hold the treasure that few have ever seen
Most of them dreams, most of them dreams

3)
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

4)
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

5)
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 stop wishin', got to go fishin'
I'm down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends

6)
I go for younger women, lived with several awhile
And though I ran away, they'll come back one day
And I still can manage a smile
It just takes a while, just takes a while

7)
Mother, mother ocean, after all these years I've found
My occupational hazard being my occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, gonna head uptown

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@SONG: Migration
Migration
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

C
Lookin' back at my background
                 G7
Tryin' to figure out how I ever got here

Some things are still a mystery to me
      C                  C7
While others are much too clear
         F
I'm just  livin' in the sunshine
     C                     Am
Stay contented most of the time
      D7
Yeah, listenin' to Murphy, Walker, and Willis
                            G    G7
Sing me their Texas rhymes

Now most of the people who retire in Florida
Are wrinkled and they lean on a crutch
And mobile homes are smotherin' my keys
I hate those bastards so much
I wish a summer squall would blow them
All the way up to fantasy land

Am                D7
    Yeah, they're ugly and square, they don't belong here
                  F          G7      C
    They looked a lot better as beer cans

Chorus:
               Am
      Yeah and that's why it's still a mystery to me
          G
      Why some people live like they do
      Am
      So many nice things happenin' out there
           D7                  G
      They never even seen the clues
              F
      Oh, but we're doin' fine, we can travel and rhyme
        C                      Am
      I know we been doin' our part
            F                    C
      Got a Caribbean soul I can barely control
               G7                      Am       C
      And some Texas hidden here in my heart

Well, now I might have joined the Merchant Marine
If I hadn't learned how to sing
And on top of all that I got married too early
'Cost me much more than a ring
But now those crazy days are over
Just gotta learn from the wrong things you've done
I came off the rebound, started lookin' around
Figured out it's time to have a little fun

(repeat chorus)

Well, now if I ever live to be an old man
I'm gonna sail down to Martinique
I'm gonna buy me a sweat-stained Bogart suit
And an African parakeet
And then I'll sit him on my shoulder
And open up my trusty old mind
I gonna teach him how to cuss, teach him how to fuss
And pull the cork out of a bottle of wine

(repeat chorus, then)
            F                    C
Yeah, got a Caribbean soul I can barely control
         G7                      F       G     C    C7
And some Texas hidden here in my heart

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@SONG: Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

 D                               G                       D
Squalls out on the gulf stream,  big storms comin' soon
    G                 D      E7                          A7
I passed out in my hammock,  God, I slept 'till way past noon
G                       D
Stood up and tried to focus
                                    C   G   A
I hoped I wouldn't have to look far
  G                           D
I knew I could use a Bloody Mary
      A7                       D
so I stumbled next door to the bar

Chorus:
     D          Bm                    F#m
     And now I must confess,   I could use some rest
     G                  A7          D
     I can't run at this pace very long
              Bm                         F#m
     Yes it's quite insane,   I think it hurts my brain
             G                     A7         D
     But it cleans me out   and then I can go on

There's something about this Sunday, it's a most peculiar gray
Strolling down the avenue   that's known as A1A
I was feeling tired, then I got inspired
And I knew that it wouldn't last long
So all alone I walked back home, sat on my beach
and then I made up this song

(repeat chorus)

Well, the wind is blowin' harder now,  fifty knots or there abouts
There's white caps on the ocean, and I'm watchin' for waterspouts
It's time to close the shutters,  it's time to go inside
In a week I'll be in gay Paris
Well that's a mighty long airplane ride

(repeat chorus and fade)
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Chord diagrams:
Bm - |xxo432|    F#m - |xx4222|   A7 - |xo2o2o|   E7 - |o2o1oo--------------|
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@SONG: Nautical Wheelers
Nautical Wheelers
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

Intro:    A  D  D6           (see bottom for chord diagrams)
          A  D  A  D

A                     D                A
Nautical Wheelers who call themselves sailors
     D                      A     A7
Play fiddle tunes under the stars
D                   A             F#m
Petti-coats rustle, working shoes scuffle,
B7                    E
Hustle on down to the bars
D                                      A         A7
Where the juke-box is blastin' and the liquor is flowin'
   D          A         E    E7
An occasional bottle of wine
               D                    A
That's 'cause everyone here is just more than contented
       E         E7        D            A
To be living and dying in three quarter time

Chorus:
     A          E7                           D          A
       And it's dance with me, dance with me Nautical Wheelers,
         D         A              E     E7
       take me to stars that you know
                   F#m                          D          A
       Come on and dance with me, dance with me Nautical Wheelers,
       E          E7      A
       I want so badly to go

Well, the left foot it'll follow
Where the right foot has travelled
Down to the sidewalks unglued
And into the street of my city so neat
Where nobody cares what you do
And Sonna's just grinnin' and Phil is ecstatic
And Mason has jumped in the sea
And I'm hangin' on to a line from my sailboat

    E7                     A
Oh, Nautical Wheelers save me
(repeat Chorus)

Well the sunrise will bring on
The sleep that's escaped us
And everyone's off to their beds
There'll be huggin' and squeezin'
A little pleazin' and teasin'
And rubbin' of each other's heads
So won't you dream on comrades, seems nothin' escapes you,
Nothin', no reason, nor rhyme
That's 'cause everyone here is just more than contented
To be living and dying in three quarter time
(repeat chorus and fade)

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Chord diagrams:     B7 - x212o2    D6 -  xxo2o2
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@SONG: Tin Cup Chalice
Tin Cup Chalice
By: Jimmy Buffett
1974

Intro:  G  C G   G  C G

G            C            G
I want to go back  to the island,
           C            D             G
where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin'
Em
Give me oysters and beer
    A7                                          D
for dinner every day of the year  and I'll feel fine
          D7
I'll feel fine

Chorus:
     C        D          G
     'Cause I    want to be there
                                |    D          |
              C                 |1. lie beside  |      Em
     I want to go back down and |2. get high by |   the sea there
                                |3. die beside  |
            C                              G       B7       Em
     With a tin cup for a chalice, fill it up with good red wine
                A7            D            G    C G
     and I'm a' chewin', on a honey-suckle vine

Yeah, now, the sun goes slidin' 'cross the water
Sailboats, they go searchin' for the breeze
Salt air it ain't thin, I can stick right to you skin
And make you feel fine
It makes you feel fine

(repeat chorus)

Yes, and now you heard my strange proposal
Get that pack gear up and let's move
I want to be there 'fore the day, tries to steal away
And leave us behind
I've made up my mind

(repeat chorus and fade)
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Chords diagrams:
Em - |o22ooo|   D7 - |xxo212|   A7 - |xo2o2o|   B7 - |x212o2------------|
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********************************************************************
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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
[end of disclaimer]
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--  GCC Author's note:  This being IMOHO, THE definitive Buffett album,
     it was the very first created of the GCC series.  So far this has
     been some serious work, but then just think how long it took Jimmy
     to write all this material.  I got a little bit of understanding
     helping with the GLC (Great Lyrics Compilation) of Spring '94, but I
     have really acquired a new respect for Jimmy Buffett's many talents.

     MAH, 8/22/94