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TIN CUP CHALICE

From the album:

A1A (1974)

Songwriter: Jimmy Buffett

Song Lyrics:

I want to go back to the island
Where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin’
Give me oysters and beer
For dinner every day of the year
And I’ll feel fine, I’ll feel fine

‘Cause I want to be there
I want to go back down
And lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I’ll be chewin’ on a honeysuckle vine

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

‘Cause I want to be there
I want to go back down
And get high beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I’ll be chewin’ on a honeysuckle vine

Yes, and now you heard my strange proposal
Get that Packard up and let’s move
I want to be there before the day
Tries to steal away and leave us behind
I’ve made up my mind

‘Cause I want to be there
I want to go back down and die beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I’ll be chewin’ on a honeysuckle vine

Jimmy’s note about “Tin Cup Chalice”:

This was my first Key West song. I was running from a bad marriage and a trail of debt, and wound up at the end of America. Nobody cared about either there, and they took the time to applaud the sunset at the end of the day. It was a place for me to hang my hat for awhile.