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When The Coast Is Clear

by Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally

from the album Floridays

Lyrics

They’re closin’ down the hangout
The air is turnin’ cool
They’er shuttin’ off the superslide”
The kids are back in school
The tourist traps are empty
Vacancy abounds
Almost like it used to be
Before the circus came to town

That’s when it always happens
Same time every year
I come down to talk to me
When the coast is clear

Hello mister other me
It’s been a long time
We hardly get to have these chats
That in itself’s a crime
So tell me all your troubles
I’ll surely tell you mine
We’ll laugh and smoke and cuss and joke
And have a glass of wine

That’s where it always happens
Same place every year
I come down and talk to me
When the coast is clear

It’s the only place he knows
Where it always happens
Same place every year
I come down and talk to me
When the coast is clear

Jimmy’s Note:

I grew up on the Alabama Gulf Coast, and it has been a source of a lot of my music. I always like to go home after school is back in session and the crowds have left the beaches. The amusement parks are closed, and one straw covers the artificial turf of the miniature golf course. The tidal pools are once again the domain of the shorebirds, and the water changes it’s darker green, signaling the approach of winter. This is the first song Mac McAnally and I wrote together, and I think it paints the image the way I like to see it. Painting with words can be as much fun as painting with oils.