#1 Roatan Song

Light the breeze blows in the morning, stiff the breeze blows at night
Bright is the sun when it's rising, the full moon sets at first light
Low the tide runs in the winter, high the tide runs in the spring
fish like to bite when it's rising, and a sandlfy will bite anything
And it's so fine to be free, and livin' down here so close to the sea
Some call it third world vicinity, I call it being content as can be
Green coconut has sweet water, the dry coconut makes the oil
Coconut chip starts the fire, you can smell that fish tea as it boils
Chata cake tastes good on Sunday, Johnny cake tastes good with tea
Tapado tastes good with some dumplin', and a conch tastes best fresh from the sea
And it's so fine to be free and living down here so close to the sea
Some call it third world vicinity, I call it bein' content as can be
Hurricane watch in September, the northers will be blowin' soon
Early sunsets in December, and the mangoes are droppin' in June
Carnival week in LaCeiba, and out to the beach Good Friday
The school children march on the quince, and they dress in their best Christmas day
And it's so fine to be free and living down here so close to the sea
Some call it third world vicinity, I call it bein' content as can be
A critical time it is coming, a lot more people live here than before
There's been a lot of changes so unbecoming a beautiful place like this one here
Divers love it for diving, and fishermen love it for fish,
But an anchor can break it to pieces, so help the reef help maintain how we live
And it's so fine to be free and living down here so close to the sea
Some call it third world vicinity, I call it bein' content as can be

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#2 Tropical Blues

I left my home in Chicago and all those city lights
I left my home in Chicago and all those city lights, burnin' bright
Out of Miami headin' south, mainland America fadin' quickly out of sight
Well when I stepped off that plane in LaCeiba, I felt cool tropical breezes cross my face
I said when I stepped off that plane in LaCeiba I felt cool tropical breezes gently caressing my face
I stepped in the corner and drank me a beer
Checked out the sights and the sounds of a different place
You head out to sea headin' thirty miles straight north
Keep goin' till you run up on that big old iron shore
I said, you're gonna head out to sea headin' thirty miles straight north
Keep goin' till you run up on that big old iron shore
You best believe that you have arrived, won't feel like you gotta travel any more
The coconut limbs swayin' to an fro,
Ladies walkin' down the street are doin' the same
Coconut limbs swayin' to and fro
Ladies walkin' down the straight they are doin' the same
Island life sure can be sweet
State of mind changes to somethin' of another name
I left my home in Chicago, and all those city lights
Yes, I left my home in Chicago and all those city lights, burnin' bright, till the middle of the night
Out of Miami headin' south, mainland America fadin' quickly out of sight

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#3 I don't mind

I don't mind if things just don't go my way
And I don't mind that my baby ain't got much to say
No I don't mind when I get those blues sometime because somethin'll happen and make it all better and I'll be fine
I don't mind when there comes a rainy time
Thunder rolls, lightnin' flashing and the sun don't shine
That is when I'll be layin' up in my crib
A good time to rest my bones, a better time to give
Mercy me, some people say
The world is comin' quickly to an end
Now I don't claim to know who's wrong or right but,
The way it just keeps on spinin' baby, to me is strictly out of sight
I don't mind when the sun's high in the sky
It burns my neck, the sea reflects it in my eye
A wide brim hat, and then I'll slide those ray bans on
I'll keep strollin' till I find a cool spot to knock a cold one down
I don't mind if I can't be president
No I don't when the bills are payed all the money's spent
I don't mind if you say this isn't paradise
De veras momma, true true thing
You don't believe me you better think twice, because we're livin' in paradise

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#4 Myra's Song

From the time we first got together, I bet you thought everything would be all right
As it always is early in a romance, we never had a fuss or a fight
Quite a few years have gone by we're still a family, and we'll be for all the years to come
But all the things you've had to go through on the way to here
Another road to take would sure have been a lot more fun
But you're still hangin' in in spite of me and everything
Your beauty remains in your heart and soul and how you sing
Children flock to you, a friend who needs a word or two
A living example that patience is a virtue
You're so fine, there's no doubt about it
You made me realize that there's so few like you
A man would be crazy to let someone like that through his hands slip through
You're so true, from first thing in the morning
You stay the same all day and everything that comes your way
You meet with a smile and not a bad word to say
I find my way home from a hard day at work, one where everything seems to go wrong
I've got this attitude I've got the feelin' and I'm lookin' somewhere to let my frustrations out on
I know that's not the way a man should walk through his door, as she turns to me away from the stove
But when our eyes meet I know everythin's OK
She's got the ability to make my bad feelings go away
You're still hanin' in in spite of me and everything
You're beauty remains in you're heart and soul and how you sing
Children flock to you, friends who need a word or two
A living example that patience is a virtue
You're so fine, there's no doubt about it
You made me realize that there's so few like you
A man would be crazy to let someone like that through his hands slip through
You're so true, from first thing in the morning
You stay the same all day and everything that comes your way
You meet with a smile and not a hard word to say

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#5 Roatanified

We who live here really love it
Even us not from here originally
Maybe after awhile we'll get
Qualified to be
Roatanified
See iguana in the tree, see it's blinking after me
Pick some fever grass for tea, oh lawd, and drink serasee to cool kidney
Coconut limbs for dory sail, padding upwind in a gale
Like some coffee in your sugar, like them Spanish gals that's for sure
Roatanified
Use vise grip for car door handle, one by six for dory paddle
Three on a moto down the street, oh lawd, young cocnut water sure is sweet
Chip coconut without breakin' it up, plant yuka stick with the eyes for up
Catchin' blue crab with bare hands, drag cahone leaf from in the highland
Roatanified
With a shrimp boat make a million, fish and farm have plenty children
You pick the rocks out of your beans, oh lawd, and fill your cistern when it rains
Banana fried, barracuda dried, like chicharron, chew chicken bone
Bottom fishin', chica number wishin', evenin' walking, prensa talking
Roatanified
Reggae, soca, punta, country, you dance till dawn and you sleep on Sunday
That fella over there he got he wife and got he girlfriend
But he's staying broke because both love to spend
Roatanified
Learn to handle boat from small, butcher ride horse and rabbit call
A man he works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done
Roatanified
Yellow head parrot flap his wings, can't hardly fly, can't hardly sing
But now there's only a few of them, so let's help to make them abundant again.

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#6 Grey Marine from Hell

It was built in '68, it pushed around plenty of boats
Flat head four, direct drive clutch, painted yellow in plenty of coats
But there's no drain plug in the oil pan, the head bolts are starting to slip
Distributor cap is wired in place, oh lawd, this motor's a trip
It's the Grey Marine from Hell, an engine I now know so well
I installed it in my dory and now I'm feeling kind of sorry
If I did it all over again, I'd have used it for a mooring
But that Grey Marine from Hell is steadily messin' up my head
It came down from Tampa, Florida, on the motos vessel "Crazy Horse"
Capt. Pete and me are friends and he had a deal I went for of course
My son and I we did deck work in trade for what was under the tarp,
We boomed it down on Mr. Errol's wharf, and lawd it was only the start with that
Grey Marine from Hell, an engine I know so well
I installed it in my dory, and now I'm feeling kind of sorry
If I did it all over again I'd have used it for a mooring
But that Grey Marine form Hell is steadily messin' up the program
It took six strong men to lift it, now my dory's sunk down by the stern
The water-cooled system was runnin' too hot, the pump it refused to turn
So I took it to Ceiba and got it fixed, then it pushed salt water in the head
The valves got stuck, I broke one off, lawd, the valve guide came out when I did
And that's the Grey Marine from Hell, an engine I know so well,
I installed it in my dory, now feelin' kind of sorry
If I did it all over again I'd have used it for a mooring
But that Grey Marine from Hell is steadily, pushin' all my buttons
Well Capt. Pete and me are still best of friends, you know I call him on the VHF
To find out the best way to modify this, slacken that or how to adjust
It must drive him nuts, cause I call him so much, after all he gave me the book
If he knew then what he's feeling out now, more than deck work and caulking it took
To get, that Grey Marine from Hell,...Etc.

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#7 Gone so Long

I took a walk before dawn, when I came up on the Islander Trader
I took a walk before dawn, when time for leaving Key West was drawing near
Well I got eight months gone, gotta head back home
The kids will be there, I'd like to sing'em a song
That they could hear from my lips cause that would mean that I'm there
Momma will be waiting, if she still cares
Cause I've been gone so long, working for that greenback dollar
So long but so few of them, have I been able to hold on to
The most of them I sent back home, were changed three times for the red lempira
But the cost of living's so much, I guess the most of them are already ate up
When I get back home, there are so many thing I'm gonna want to do
I bought these few tools and this amp to help to push my tunes through
I'm gonna make me some music with my saw and my jaw
Gonna talk to my kids the way I wanted before
Won't forget about my wife, she's been waiting patiently
Want to check out my friends, want to bathe in the sea
I've been gone so long working for that greenback dollar
So long but so few of them, have I been able to hold on to
The most of them I sent back home, were changed eleven times for the red lempira
But the cost of living's so much, I guess the most of them are already spent up
You know it's good sometime, to get away for awhile when you want to
But when you're gone too long, and can't get back it's a bad thing to go through
To those of you here who never left since I went
The States is the same, maybe a little more bent
I said it before, I'll say it again, up there is all right but it's not Roatan
I've been gone so long, workin' for the red lempira
So long but so few of them, have I been able to hold on to
the most of them I sent back home, were changed fifteen times for the red lempira
But the cost of living so much, still maybe some of them are already saved up

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#8 Tire Tracks

Tire tracks upon the sand, impressions unlike any that had ever before been there before
Wire strands connect the palm trees of the cocal
Painted plywood signs declare the status of the land
Sun-plundered backs bent over, turtle grass is pulled up from the shallows, Heaped and dried and burned
Preparing for some people who are coming
Their pockets lined with gold, expecting to do as they please
Nothing stays the same they say, I guess we knew it from the first day-e-ay-eay-e
Land bequeathed by Queen Victoria, to islanders so many years ago
Was passed along amongst family each generation
A place to farm and live, a place to call home
Here in the nineties now, the mighty dollar speaking loud
Many letting go of what they've held for so long
Where are the children and grandchildren of the families gonna live
When all the land is done gone?
Nothing stays the same they say, I guess we knew it from the first day-e-ay-e-ay-e
Truly special places in the world, are getting so few and far between just what makes them special brings the people there from other places
Some to plunder and scheme
A mighty rolling thunder cutting through the topics, leaving so much change in its wake
All call it progress who are making plenty of money,
But to many people it just makes life that much harder to take

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#9 RECO Blues

I got my last RECO bill today
Believe they'll have to come and cut my light out
Yes, I got my last RECO bill today
Believe they'll have to come and cut my lights out
I'll pull my kerosene lamp out the closet
Dust it off and set it out
That tank of butane that fire up my stove
It ran out, left my yuka half boiled
That tank of butane that fire up my stove
It ran out, left my salt pork half boiled
I put the tank in my truck, threw my back out of whack
Payed the bill, with empty pockets I turned home
My friend he likes raisin' his crops in the bush
But the thief them keep it picked clean
My neighbor still fishes to keep his kids fed,
But the fish just aren't picking it seems
The holes in the road got my trick front end twist
Price of fuel going sky high
I think about how this island used to be
You know it makes me wonder why
Got my last RECO bill today
Believe they'll have to come and cut my lights out
I'll put my kerosene lamp out the closet,
Dust it off and set it out
Someone told a lie to the judge about me
I did six days in Coxen Hole jail
Someone told the judge a big lie about me
I did six days in Coxen Hole jail
Your freedom hangs by a thin thread around here
Slightly mess up, you better prepare to set sail

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#10 Cruise Ships by the Dozen

Cruise ship by the dozen
They're comin' here because'n
They ran these out of Grand Cayman
And they don't want them back again
We'll build more docks to park'em
Discharge'em and transport'em
In anything with wheels or keels
To West Bay beach and make them feel
They've come to know the island
In four hours overcrowding
A place not prepared for the pack
It's kind of silly and that's a fact
A few will profit bigly
It's they who so darn squigly
Lined up this thing on the island
Dreams of dollars swimming in their heads
Oh-oh-oh
What happened to this place that we used to know
A while back what was most perilous
Was chompin' down a piece of poison barra fish, but
Things are getting kinda hung-bug up
Getting near this highway is extremely dangerous
A busload of touristas rolling down the road
Hail Mary, see them passing on a curve
Oh-oh-oh
What happened to this place that we used to know
A While back what was most perilous
Was chompin' down a piece of poison barra fish, but
Things are getting kinda hum-bug up
Getting near this highway is extremely dangerous
A busload of touristas rolling down the road
Hail Mary, see them passing on a curve
Oh-oh-oh
Cruise ship by the dozen
Cruise ship by the dozen
I guess we'll learn to love'em
The dolphins in the dolphin show
Are working overtime
The ladies of the avenue are shaking their behind
Taxi drivers speaking English
"Fifty dollar, you're trip is finished"
Everybody having just a real swell time
Hasta la vista baby
Oh-oh-oh
What happened to this place that we used to know
They call here undiscovered but you know that's a lie
The price it costs to live here, it'll make you want to cry
Call it the cost of progress
It's like you're dancing on an ant's nest
Call it complaining, but it's just the facts
See them out there coming in the channel

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