I was just reading an article in the San Francisco Chronicle that said that Jimmy Buffet just celebrated his 62nd birthday on December 25.  The article also goes on to say that he has been named by Vanity Fair as one of the 100 most influential people.  In the world.

With an annual income of over $40 million you might mistake him for Warren Buffett.  And he’s done it just sailing along, playing music, selling t-shirts and the idea of a lifestyle of early retirement and beach front living.

That said, my song du jour was an easy one…  my favorite Jimmy Buffett song:  A Pirate Looks at 40.  This is not my favorite version of the song (which is on the album “You Had To Be There“, but it’s good just as well.

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 ’em dream, most of ’em dream

Yes I am a pirate, two hundred years too late
The cannons don’t thunder, there’s nothin to plunder
Im an over-forty victim of fate
Arriving too late, arriving too late

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

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 wishin’, got to go fishin’
Down to rock bottom again
Just a few friends, just a few friends

I go for younger women, lived with several awhile
Though I ran ’em 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