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Take It Back

by Jimmy Buffett and Matt Betton

from the album Boats

Lyrics

Open season on the open seas and
Captain says no prisoners please
Skull and crossbones on a background of black
We ain’t stealin’ we’re just takin’ back

We ain’t stealin’ we’re just takin’ back
Very simple plan of attack
It’s our job and a labor of love
Take it home to the up above
We ain’t stealin’ we’re just takin’ back
Very simple statement of fact
Call it pillage or call it plunder
We’re takin’ it back from them boys down under

Hit us hard, took our treasure
That was the worst thing they could do
It will be our great pleasure
To take it back from that captain kangaroo

Yo ho ho, and a bottle of suds
It’s a pirates fight we choose
No we don’t want a bucket of blood
Just a cup is all we could use
Just a cup

The sails are up and the bets are down
Let’s lighten up this harbor town
By hook or crook or new design
We’re streakin’ for that finish line

We ain’t stealin’ we’re just takin’ back
Very simple plan of attack
It’s our job and a labor of love
Take it home to the up above
We ain’t stealin’ we’re just takin’ back
Very simple statement of fact
Call it pillage or call it plunder
We’re takin’ it back from them boys down under

Spoken:
We ask ourselves when we get in a fix
What would Popeye do in a tight spot like this
He’d race for his true love and easily win it
In an old spinach can with a mast stuck in it

Lift us up, take us high
Time to let our spirits fly
Lift us up, take us high
Let us sail until we die

Lift us up, take us high
Let us float above the foam
Let our sails fill the sky
We are takin’ our sweet treasure home

Take it back
We’re takin’ it back
Take it back!

Jimmy’s Note:

I got a call one day to write a song for the Stars and Stripes challenge. The Americans were trying to win the American Cup back from the Australians. Soon after that, my first trip to Australia came together, and we opened the tour in Perth at the time of the race. For me, it was the party of the 80’s, and I think of this as the background music for an incredible stay down under.