Before The Beach

By: jimmy buffett
1971
Hardly seems a long time
Just a minute of the day
But the man who stood beside me
More than gave himself away
The food stain on his spotted shirt
A gray beard on his face
A man composed of many names
So i just called him ace

Chorus:
But ace can't read and ace can't write
And he sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter, he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowing what he's gonna find

Born in mississippi
Picking cotton as a child
Left soon for the city
Where he heard that life was wild
That was fifty years ago
When nothing's really strange
From a poor dirt farm to dirty streets
Is really not much change

Chorus:
And ace can't read and ace can't write
And he sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter, he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowing what he's gonna find

Go back to the country
No he really can't do that
Wasted years have left him
Nothing but an old straw hat
So he puts it on his head
And waves a last good-bye
No time left to turn around
And no time to ask why

Chorus:
Ace can't read and ace can't write
And he sleeps on a bench at night
A little man the world has left behind
He ain't bitter, he ain't sweet
Makes his living on the street
Never knowing what he's gonna find
And this old world has left poor ace behind

By: jimmy buffett
1970
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
Came to see a friend who lived up here

Told me she had finished school
And then went on to college for a year
I asked if she had married
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 a 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
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

By: jimmy buffett, buzz cason
1970
Why is he cussin' and callin' 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 that 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:
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

'cause ellis dee ain't fee like you and me
No ellis dee ain't free like you and me

By: jimmy buffett, buzz cason
1971
I have been out wandering
I have traveled far
One conclusion i have made
Is god don't own a car

He don't wear no fancy clothes
He'd rather take the bus
He would pay a tourist fare
So he could sit with us

He don't have no tamborine
Guitar or slide trombone
The music we make here on earth
The words they are his own

And when we finally reach his home
And walk among the stars
He'll join our band then we'll understand
Why god don't own a car

La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la, la, la

By: jimmy buffett
1970
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
Didn't know i'd catch the changin' of the seasons
Winter dictates everything from frost to naked trees

Chorus:
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 shinin'
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

Chorus:
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
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
Tonight i'll call it mine
Tonight i'll call it mine
Tonight i'll call it mine
Tonight i'll call it mine

By: jimmy buffett
1971
Nothing here is different
Nothing's changed at all
And livingston's gone to texas
They say he had a ball

They say he learned to be a cowboy
They say he learned to rope and ride
But i wonder if he ever
Thinks about the tears his woman cried

Now holly won't you let me
Try and make you smile
Now you loved him as if he were your husband
Now he'll be gone awhile

Wrote he had to see the the country
On starry nights he wished that you were there
And so it shows wherever he goes
Deep inside you know he really cares

It's crazy and it's different
But it's really being free
And reasons the world would want to question
Make sense to you and me

Nothing here is different
Nothing's changed at all
Livingston's still in texas
The snow's about to fall

By: jimmy buffett, buzz cason
1971
Evil, it's been here all along
Good things, they just seem to have come and gone
In my life i have seen so much go wrong
And there's only one way left for us to get along

Chorus:
You got to bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems i've been fightin' it all along
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone

Papers, they print it every day
Housewife, wraps the garbage then throws it away
I don't guess she thinks they have that much to say
But when the time is right she'll be the lady with so much to pay

Chorus:
You got to bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems i've been fightin' it all along
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone

History, it teaches much too well
Nations, had to rise up before they fell
And my eyes see the story they're tryin' to tell
And tonight i think i heard the final toll of the bell

Chorus:
We better bend a little one way or the other
You got to leave your mind open to discover
Seems i've been fightin' it all along
You've got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
Or soon you'll be gone

Seems i've been fightin' it all along
I've been a fightin' and a fightin'
Got to bend a little no matter which side you're on
It's a long and and dirty battle
It seems i've been fightin' it all along
I've been a tearin' and a pullin'
Got a bend a little no matter which side you're on
Yes i know cause
It seems i've been fightin' it all along
I've been a punchin' and a gougin'
And it seems no matter which side you're on
I've been a tearin' and a rippin' and
It seems i've been fightin' it all along
It don't matter 'cause you know you
Got a bend a little no matter which side you're on
You got to bend a little backwards
Cause it seems i've been fightin' it all along
Cause it seems i've been fightin'...
You got to bend a little no matter which side you're on

By: jimmy buffett
1971
In the shelter
In the mornin' as the sun was brightly gleaming
I heard her crying out, "what is it all about?
I just don't know, but i can't go back home."

Lonely princess
All the days out on your own are growing empty
Nothing is going well
If you could only tell them how you feel
They're too real to understand

Chorus:
Too many trite expressions
Ending in forced rejections long ago
Too many innocent faces
Too many far out places something's wrong
Let me tell you that something's wrong
It's been that way so long, and it's a shame

On the street car
To the city where she knows that she might lose it all
Riding for just a dime, takin' her own sweet time
And knowing well this could be her final fall

Past the boutique
Down the alley to the river, people pass her by
Sits on the big gray rocks, takes off her boots and socks
And knowing what she will do next just starts to cry

Chorus:
Too many small suggestions
Endin' in angry questions from her dad
Too many t.v. dinners
And everyone loves a winner, but she was lost
No one knows the trials she had

In the shelter
In the mornin' as the sun was brightly gleaming
I heard her crying out, "what is it all about?
I just don't know, but i can't go back home."

Lord, i just don't know, but i can't go back home.

By: jimmy buffett
1970
I never used to miss the chance to climb up on his knee
And listen to the many tales of life upon the sea
We'd go sailing back on barkentines we'd 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 backyard
He never could adjust to land although he tried so hard
We both were growing older then and wiser with the 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 that's where he oughta be
With one hand on the starboard rail he's wavin' back at me

I never used to miss the chance to climb up on his knee
And listen to the many tales of life upon the sea
We'd go sailing back on barkentines talk of things he did
The world was just a day away for the captain and the kid
For the captain and this kid

By: jimmy buffett
1970
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

Chorus:
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 wickedly shouted thanks
And continued on his journey all 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 d.j. from the fifty watt station got
The whole damn thing on tape

Chorus:
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 had 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

Chorus:
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

By: jimmy buffett, buzz cason
1971
The tour bus passed here yesterday
Exciting all the fools who pay
To see the naked lady in our yard

The hang out gang is back in town
Rumor has it going 'round they brought back
Four new groupies and a st. bernard

We're peaceful and abiding cats some call gypsies
Some call brats but bare feet don't tear streets up like their bus

Chorus:
All we was doing' was a hangin' and little koochie was sangin'
Mama i'm guilty of a hangin' out
I know it's a shabby old building but after all ain't we god's children
And lord it's a good place for hangin' out

The fast approachin' local heat was poundin' out the southwest beat
When they came upon koochie in our yard
She smiled sir i meant no harm just a little suntan on my arm
They wound up takin' in our st. bernard
It didn't have a tag ya'll

Chorus:
All we was doing' was a hangin' and little koochie was sangin'
Mama i'm guilty of a hangin' out
I know it's a shabby old building but after all ain't we god's children
And lord it's a good place for hangin' out

Now you hang with me and i'll hang with you and we'll hang out
'til we both turn blue mama i'm guilty of a hangin' out

Chorus:
All we was doing' was a hangin' and little koochie kept sangin'
Mama i'm guilty of a hangin' out
I know it's a shabby old building but after all ain't we god's children
And lord it's a good place for hangin' out

All we was doin' was a hangin' and little koochie kept sangin'
Mama i'm guilty of a hangin' out

-- spoken (dialogue):
"yeah, they moved up there about a month ago. fixed up that little cabin on the ridge. they really them long hairs? well, homer seen 'em. homer seen how long it was. still reckon i seen it.
A bunch of weirdos. one of them had a little instrument looked like a mandolin. why lord, they might freeze to death up there this winter. well. homer, turn that radio down."