Jimmy Buffett's A Pirate Looks At Forty

Who do you think of when one asks about poetry? You might say Poe, Dickinson, Emerson, Shakespeare or even Dr. Seuss, and you along with many other’s would have the same answer’s. However, there are many poet’s out there that one can name off, but how often does someone say that song lyrics are also poetry? More often the famous poets are mentioned but sometimes one can find poetry hidden in things all around, music being one of those places. Now again ask what kind of music? Rap and hip hop are an easy answer, but what about Jimmy Buffett, a author, song writer, musician, actor, and a journalist. Poetry uses tone and imagery to convey a message to the reader, well the same can be done with lyrics you can find hidden meanings in lyrics that

He paints the scene with the sounds of the ocean and what those meant to him and to the person the lyrics are about. His love for the ocean, the beach, and the life of a pirate are all rolled into one lyrical masterpiece. Most of Buffett’s own written lyrics have an autobiography feel to them as he draws on his life for them, however A Pirate Looks At Forty was written about Phillip Clark whom Buffett met in Key West, Florida after he moved there. He saw Clark as a pirate of his time who tired all type of odd jobs looking for adventure, he had tried almost every hazardous occupation known to man such as mercenary soldier to smuggler to an advertising executive. The last being the one that pushed him over the edge into a full pirate that inspired the lyrics. The symbolism within the lyrics can be taken literally in a nostalgic way even about his own life, he was inspired by Clark as he saw a lot of himself in Clark with his pirate lifestyle. The lyrics first have him talking about the ocean being like a mother to him where ships traveling with gold, artifacts, and people have sunk and her “belly” hold lost treasures. He longed to sail on the ocean snice he was a small child being drawn to it and saying that the ocean has seen it all, much like he too wanted to have adventure and see the world. The words “watched the men who road you switch form sail to stream” gives the idea of the time period and the fact that he grew up watching the time change for the shipping industry. Then we go to “The cannons don’t thunder there’s nothing to plunder, I am an over forty victim of fate arriving too late” and “My occupational hazard being my occupations just not around”, here he is referring to wanting to be part of the pirate lifestyle but as fate would have it he was born in the wrong time period where being a pirate was an actual way of living one he felt he would do