Equal Strain On All Parts Album Lyrics by Jimmy Buffett

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University of Bourbon Street

I guess the point of goin' to college
Was to acquire myself a little knowledge
And help me figure out
What life was really all about

It made Peets and J.D. happy
And set me wild and free
Then I danced out of Mississippi
To the University of Bourbon Street

I sang, "Hey (hey), Pocky A-way"
On the streetcar headed uptown
I went to class (sure did) every day
And never wore a frown

I was taught by the Neville Brothers
Benny Spellman, and a whole lotta others
That brass band blew my mind
When I joined in the second line

I felt the power of the gris-gris
Got my soul saved by the backbeat
I was branded by Jean Lafitte
At the University of Bourbon Street

I sang on a paddlewheel boat
Floated down the Mississippi
Helped build a Mardi Gras float
And smoked a joint with a beautiful hippie

I heard a church choir sing
"Change my guitar strings"
Thought things just couldn't get better
'Til I walked to the Central Grocery
And had myself a muffaletta

I took my lunchbox to the streetcar
That Tennessee named, "Desire"
Then I followed my dancin' feet
To the University of Bourbon Street

Yeah, we got high-class, low-rent Voodoo information
Pat O'Brien's hurricane accreditation
Old-school sex education
And I learned how to eat

From the music and the people
To the cookin' and the joy
It really ain't a mystery
I just followed my dancin' feet
To the University of Bourbon Street

I got my Lucky Dog Ph.D.
At the University of Bourbon Street
Yeah, I just followed my dancin' feet
To the University of Bourbon Street
And a Po' Boy Master's Degree
At the University of Bourbon Street

It's all sweet, darling
University of Bourbon Street
Hand me that umbrella
Follow me to school
University of Bourbon Street
University of Bourbon Street

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Bubbles Up

When this world starts a-reelin'
From that pressure drop feelin'
We're just treading water each day
There's a way to feel better
Be well set to weather
The storms 'til the sun shines again

When your compass is spinnin'
And you're lost on the way
Like a leaf in the wind, friend
Hear me when I say

Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface, the plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved
There is light up above
And the joy is always enough
Bubbles up

To my friends who are jolly
When melancholy knocks
Sometimes they let her in
To sit and share stories
Of flops and of glories
It ain't half as bad as the bends
Sometimes living's a struggle
Multiplied double
But they love it too much
For the party to end

Bubbles up
They will point you towards home
No matter how deep or how far you roam
They will show you the surface
The plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved (you are loved)
There's light up above (up above)
And joy, there is always enough
Bubbles up

Let's pop a cork to the rough and the right
To the bright blazing days
And the sweet starry nights

Bubbles up
They will point us towards home
No matter how deep or how far we roam
They will show you the surface
The plot and the purpose
So, when the journey gets long
Just know that you are loved (you are loved)
There's light up above (up above)
And joy, there's always enough
Bubbles up
Bubbles up

Bubbles up

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Audience of One

One hand clappin'
Five toes tappin'
A neighbor nappin' 'cross the hall
Second guess
This song is a mess
Make a little progress
Even if it's small

All I know to tell
Is do it 'til you get it right

Playin' to an audience of one
Better than an audience of none
Playin' to an audience somewhere
Better than a bunch of folks not there
You could still have a lot of fun
Givin' it all you've got
For an audience of one

It was a big night
Marquee lights
I seem to set impossible sights
Medium posts drew a curious ghost
Is she a fan or a miffed housewife?

All I know to tell
Is do it 'til you get it right

Playin' to an audience of one
Better than an audience of none
Playin' to an audience somewhere
No other job compares
You could still have a lot of fun
Givin' it all you've got
For an audience of one

Uno
Un

Back at home, I'm never alone
Hold the phone without fail
No trepidation
My motivation
Is a standing ovation from a waggin' tail

All I know to tell ya
Is we finally got it right

Playin' to an audience of one
Better than an audience of none
Playin' to an audience somewhere
Better than a bunch of folks not there
You could still have a lot of fun
Givin' it all you've got
For an audience of one

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My Gummie Just Kicked In

A summer party on the south shore
Wine and laughter and a little bit more
From the pretty girl next to me out of the blue
Came the proclamation only heard by few

Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where I've been
All I know for certain is
My gummy just kicked in

Feeling no pain, she ejected from her chair
Sprang up on the table and let down her hair
A procession of expression frozen in shock
And the 60's came alive and she yelled lets rock

Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where I've been
All I know for certain is
My gummy just kicked in

Tantalizing tempting state I'm in
Advertising as a saintly sin
Won't you come on in

Acapella fronts brought the big base sound
Then the full moon rose and the sun went down
The gummy in her tummy wasn't breaking any laws
She rode a bus float in her own mardi gras

Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where I've been
All I know for certain is
My gummy just
My gummy just
My gummy just kicked in

A summer party on the south shore
Wine and laughter and a whole lot more
From the pretty girl next to me out of the blue
Came the proclamation only heard by few

Don't know where I'm going
Don't know where I've been
All I know for certain is
My gummy just
My gummy just
My gummy just kicked in

My gummy just
My gummy just
My gummy just kicked in
My gummy just
My gummy just
My gummy just kicked in, whoa

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Close Calls

Close calls, close calls
I will survive
Brick walls, big balls
Lucky just to be alive
I fought Buford Pusser in a honky-tonk joint
He whipped my ass, that's beside the point
Close calls, close calls
Lucky just to be alive

Been in lots of tight spots
So many that I can't explain
Big shots, bon mots
I don't always use my brain
Scuba divin' Pensacola
Hundred twenty feet down
I'm so glad Jack buddy-breathed me
Or I guess I would have drowned
Close calls, close calls
I don't always use my brain

Life can be a pickle
Or a stalk of sugar cane
One day you're wrestlin' 'gators
Next day you're singing, "Never Been to Spain"
In Spain, in Spanish

Close calls, close calls
I will survive
Brick walls, big balls
Lucky just to be alive
I fought Buford Pusser in a honky-tonk joint
He beat my ass, that's beside the point
Close calls, close calls
Lucky just to be alive
Close calls, close calls
I will survive
Close calls, close calls
Lucky just to be alive

---

Equal Strain on All Parts

All those little things that my grandfather said
Not so little now, here in my grown-up head
I didn't always see the wisdom at the time
But I'm older now

Right after lunch and a Cafe Royale, he'd take his combat nap
And slip away to God knows where, beneath his weathered cap
And doze off with that parlance I came to understand

Equal strain on all parts
Son, whatever course you set
It'll ease the pain on backs and brains and hearts
It's a solid thing to wish for
It's the wrong thing to forget
Lyin' in this hammock now
It sure feels good to get
An equal strain on all parts

It works on land, it works at sea, for creatures big and small
Cooling down our cylinders, living's a long haul
Jokes and songs and travelin'
They lift the fog

Words from a Newfie cabin boy still steer me near and far
And I'll pass them on in poems and songs before I cross the bar
It's worth a little time and space to understand

Equal strain on all parts
Whatever course you set
It'll ease the pain on backs and brains and hearts
It's a solid thing to wish for
It's the wrong thing to forget
Lying in this hammock now
It sure feels good to get
An equal strain on all parts

---

Like My Dog

She never tells me that she's sick of this house
She never says, "Why don't you get off that couch?"
She don't cost me nothing when she wants to go out
I want you to love me like my dog

She never says I need a new attitude
Her and your sister ain't always in a feud
When I leave the seat up, she don't think that it's rude

I want you to love me like my dog does, baby
When I come home, want you to just go crazy
She never looks at me like she might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog

She never acts like she don't care for my friends
She never asks me, "Where the hell have you been?"
She don't play dead any time I walk in

I want you to love me like my dog does, honey
She never says, "I wish you made more money"
She always thinks that pull my finger's funny
I want you to love me like my dog

She don't get mad at me and throw a major fit
'Cause I said her sister was a bitch

I want you to love me like my dog does, baby
When I come home, want you to just go crazy
She never looks at me like she might hate me
I want you to love me like my dog

Why won't you love me like my dog does, baby

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Ti Punch Cafe

Took my telescope to sea, bound for outer space
To a lonely island in a very special place
An atoll with a blue lagoon, a point break full of grace
Lava flows from long ago, bubble up this place

Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé

And thank the Lord for a watering hole open night and day
Where buccaneers can sip their rum in the old Ti Punch Café
Above the entrance curtain hangs a well-used frying pan
The owner's not the Aga Khan, it is the Jolly Mon

Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé

Houéssivo lo dji houé, minbi nin djawa loo
Houéssivo lo dji houé é minbi nin wa douwé loo
Houéssivo lo dji houé, mnibi nin djawa loo
Houéssivo lo dji houé é

I scoped the sky for passersby, Jolly Mon planned the trip
From the Pleiades, Desdemona came in her rocket ship
Eddie brought them burgers, Banky brought his band
And the Little Prince said, "Tout le monde," did the beguine in the sand, hey

Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé

Now the party's done, fun tickets gone
We sang and loved and hoped
Then I woke back in twenty
Beneath my telescope
Galaxies and nautilus shells
Look the same to me
So ask yourself this question
"How couldn't it be?"

Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la, ou lé
Ou la

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Portugal or PEI

I guess that I was born
With that nomad gene
There's very little of this planet
That I have not seen
Everybody's on a soapbox
Influencers and phones
TikTok Tommy Rock 'round the clock
But I'm still thinkin' Rolling Stones

So, where'm I gonna go
When the volcanos blow?
Everybody's askin'
All the time
Contemplatin' Malpeque Bay
Or a beach bar near Sagres
I'm sure I'll find a way
'Til then, I'll be in the conga line

A pub in Portugal or PEI
Layin' low, stayin' high
I've got my good friends close
And trouble far away
Music on a beach
Called, "Singin' Sands"
No big deal, no master plan
We'll be all right, come Monday

I'll hopscotch 'cross the ocean
On friendly archipelago
Where women sing to Gaia
And the marijuana grows

I'm thinkin' Garden of the Gulf
Where the Portuguese fished long ago
Speak a little Mig Mauw when I can
And then Cavendish
Do the do-si-do

Where'm I gonna go
When the volcanos blow?
Everybody's askin'
All the time
Contemplatin' Malpeque Bay
Or a beach bar near Sagres
I'm sure I'll find a way
'Til then, I'll be in the conga line

A pub in Portugal or PEI
Layin' low, stayin' high
I've got my good friends close
And trouble far away
Music on a beach
Called "Singin' Sands"
No big deal, no master plan
We'll be all right, come Monday

Everybody's on a soapbox
And there's way too many phones
Everybody's playin' TikTok Tommy Rock
And I still love the Rolling Stones
But life is always better
When you add a little island
A lot of oysters, love and wine
Maybe a pub on PEI
With somebody singin' in Portuguese
On the sandbar, feel the ocean breeze
Right now, that sounds real good to me
I really like those possibilities

'Til then, I'll be in the conga line
Where'm I gonna go?
'Til then, I'll be in the conga line
Where'm I gonna go?
'Til then, I'll be in the conga line
Where'm I gonna go?
'Til then, I'll be in the conga line
Where'm I gonna go?
Where'm I gonna go?

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Nobody Works on Friday

Nobody works on Friday
Thursday night comes in hot
A little less work, make the same pay
Now I'm givin' it all I've got

Nobody works on Friday
Nobody seems to care
Jump in the car, hop on a plane
Gotta, gotta get somewhere

When Friday comes along
We'll be gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
Nobody works on Friday
Anymore
Nobody works on Friday

The French got a month of joie de vivre
The Aussies six weeks to grill, mate
Spain takes a summer siesta
Bossa nova heats up Brazil
But here the boss man's glued to the cameras checking productivity
But the company time's not yours and mine, that's the point of flexibility
It took a global crisis to remind us
There's so much more to life than workin' just a four-day week

Nobody works on Friday
Thursday night comes in hot
A little less work, make the same pay
Now I'm givin' it all I've got

Nobody works on Friday
Nobody seems to care
Jump in the car, hop on a plane
Gotta, gotta get somewhere

When Friday comes along
We'll be gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone
Nobody works on Friday
Anymore
Nobody works on Friday

I'm contemplatin' the keys to success
'Cause life imitates ping-pong
Maybe stumble across a job that sucks less
Or put my thoughts in a song
It took a global crisis to remind us
There's so much more to life than workin' just a four day week

Nobody works on Friday
Thursday got a booster shot
So what ya gonna do with all that time?
I'm feelin' like a microdot

Nobody works on Friday
Prayin' for the sun to shine
Hey, pretty mama, how 'bout the Bahamas?
Conch fritters and red wine

When Friday comes along
We'll be gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone, gone

Nobody works on Friday
Nobody works on Friday
Nobody works on Friday
Nobody works on Friday

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Fish Porn

Fish porn, fish porn on his brain
From down in Marathon up to the coast of Maine
Gil's got a weird incurable disorder
He can't go a day without gettin' on the water

Fish porn, fish porn
That's the diagnosis

His childhood dream was to be a great magician
Disappear into thin air and become an apparition
He lives by the shore, but he comes from the sea
Goddess of the deep Lady Aphrodite

Don't let him swim with the fishes
Like Luca Brasi

Now Coral loves her Gil, always greets him with her kisses
But he's gone so much, she's understandably suspicious
Before too long, she's a woman on a mission
She wants to know, is he really gone fishin'?

Fish porn, fish porn
Early psychosis

Spoonin' for a snapper, wanna hook a wahoo
Watch out for the bull sharks circlin' you
Keep an eye out for the blue fins hangin' with the whale
And watch out for the men tellin' big fish tales

Fish porn, fish porn

Coral had to be sure, so she tracked him to his hideaway spot
With a cooler full of Landsharks, she slipped into something real hot
She breathed a sigh of relief, there were no cameras or chicks
No teeny bikinis, no real problems to fix
Splish splash, mad dash
Gil's girl's gonna save the day

Coral climbed on board, Gil was pantin' like an Irish Setter
As she proceeded with her master plan
To make 'em both feel better
Things got exciting, and the fish started biting, and poles were bendin'
Everybody loves a happy ending

Fish porn, fish porn
It was a happy ending
Fish porn, fish porn
It was the remedy
Fish porn, fish porn
Everybody's going out to to sea
Catch somethin' for me

Fish porn, fish porn
It was a happy ending
Fish porn, fish porn
Fish porn, fish porn
Fish porn, fish porn

---

Johnny's Rhum

I had a dream I was down at Jojo's
Havin' a burger 'neath the setting sun
Johnny was sitting in the corner
Sippin' on a glass of Depaz Rhum

He was checking out all of the tombstones
'Cross the cemetery in Lorient
The stage was hung, the soundcheck done
He was ready for everyone

He strummed a guitar made of orchids
And the who's who all were there
Bill Haley, Carl Perkins, not to mention Buddy Holly
Plus, a couple of Jordanaires

Colonel Parker was lurking on a nearby beach
With a contract full of deceit
But Johnny took the stage
And tore up every page
And the crowd flew out of their seats

Johnny Hallyday
Leap, and the net will appear
There's no other way
You ever could have wound up here
All the blood and the sweat and the long shot bets
And the things that the people say
You were more than just the French Elvis
You was Johnny Hallyday

There was a sound come across the ocean
From Memphis to the heart of France
It made Johnny dream and made the young girls scream
And everybody sing and dance

And the sound spread through all nations
But the source only played in one
So Johnny made a plan, and he started a band
And then made himself a hell of a run

Johnny Hallyday
Leap, and the net will appear
There's no other way
You ever could have wound up here
All the blood and the sweat and the long shot bets
And the things that the people say
You were more than just the French Elvis
You was Johnny Hallyday

The Champs-Élysées was crowded
Almost a million strong
There to raise a glass and to watch him pass
Maybe hoping for just one more song

Johnny Hallyday
Leap, and the net will appear
There's no other way
We all could have wound up here
All the blood and the sweat and the long shot bets
And the things that the people say
You were more than just the French Elvis
You was Johnny, yeah, you was Johnny
Johnny Hallyday

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Columbus

Better keep your distance from this whale
Better keep your boat from going astray
Find yourself a partner and treat them well
Try to give them shelter, night and day

'Cause here in this blue light
Far away from the fireside
Things can get twisted and crazy and crowded
And you can't even feel alright

So, I dream of Columbus
Every time the panic starts
You dream of Columbus
With your maps and your beautiful charts
You dream of Columbus
With an ache in your traveling heart

See how the cormorant swoops and dives
Must be some thrill to go that deep
Down to the basement of this life
Down to where the mermaids gently sleep

Not like here in this blue light
Far away from the fireside
Where things can get twisted and haunted and crowded
You can't even feel alright

So, you dream of Columbus
Every time the panic starts
You dream of Columbus
With your maps and your beautiful charts
You dream of Columbus

And as the tide must ebb and flow
I am dragged down under
And I wait the livelong day
For an end to my hunger

So, I dream of Columbus
Every time the panic starts
I dream of Columbus
With my maps and my beautiful charts
I dream of Columbus
And there's peace in this traveling heart

Dream of Columbus
I dream of Columbus
Dream of Columbus
Dream of Columbus

---

Mozambique

I like to spend some time in Mozambique
The sunny sky is aqua-blue
And all the couples dancing cheek to cheek
It's very nice to stay a week or two
And maybe fall in love, just me and you

There's lots of pretty girls in Mozambique
And plenty time for good romance
And everybody likes to stop and speak
To give the special one you seek a chance
And maybe say hello with just a glance

Lying next to her by the ocean
Reaching out and touching her hand
Whispering your secret emotion
Magic in a magical land

And when it's time for leaving Mozambique
To say goodbye to sand and sea
You turn around to take a final peek
And you see why it's so unique to be
Among the lovely people living free
Upon the beach of sunny Mozambique