Take It Back
by Jimmy Buffett
Open season on the open seas and
Captain says, ‘No prisoners please!’
Skull and crossbones on a background of black,
We ain’t stealing 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 labour 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 the 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 the pirates’ life 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 brighten up this harbour town!
By hook or crook or a 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 labour 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 the boys down under!
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 flow above the morn.
Let our sails fill the skies
We are takin’ our sweet treasure home
Take it back.
We’re takin’ it back.
Take it back.
This is one of those songs that I often can’t get out of my head. It’s really just a great song. I’m amused by the moderation exhibited in the poem (“We don’t want a bucket of blood / Just a cup is all we could use”), and how it’s not stealing if you had it in the first place. Of course, there’s no mention of whether the treasure was stolen in the first place!
I’m also a big fan of the stanza about what Popeye would do.
