Jimmy Buffett – Cowboy in the Jungle Lyrics

Album on Son of a Son of a Sailor

[Verse 1]
There’s a cowboy in the jungle
And he looks so out of place
With his shrimpskin boots and his cheap cheroots
And his skin as white as paste

[Verse 2]
Headin’ south to Paraguay
Where the Gauchos sing and shout
Now he’s stuck in Porto Bello
Since his money all ran out

[Verse 3]
So he hangs out with the sailors
Night and day they’re raisin’ hell
And his original destination’s
Just another story that he loves to tell

[Verse 4]
With no plans for the future
He still seems in control
From a bronco ride to a ten foot tide
He just had to learn to roll

[Chorus 1]
Rolled with the punches. played all of his hunches
Make the best of whatever came his way
What he lacked in ambition, he made up with intuition
Plowin’ straight ahead, come what may

[Verse 5]
Steel band in the distance
And their music floats across the bay
While American women in mumus
Talk about all the things they did today

[Verse 6]
And their husbands quack about fishing
As they slug those rum drinks down
Discussing who caught what and who sat on his butt
But it’s the only show in town

[Chorus]
Tryin’ to drink all the punches, they all may lose their lunches
Tryin’ to cram lost years into five or six days
Seems that blind ambition erased their intuition
Plowin’ straight ahead, come what may

[Bridge]
I don’t want to live on that kind of island
No, I don’t want to swim in a roped-off sea
Too much for me, too much for me
I’ve got to be where the wind and the water are free

[Verse 7]
Alone on a midnight passage
I can count the falling stars
While the Southern Cross and the satellites
They remind me of where we are
[Verse 8]
Spinning around in circles
Living it day to day
And still twenty four hours, maybe sixty good years
It’s still not that long a stay

[Chorus 3]
We’ve gotta roll with the punches, learn to play all of our hunches
Makin’ the best of whatever comes your way
Forget that blind ambition and learn to trust your intuition
Plowin’ straight ahead, come what may

[Outro]
And there’s a cowboy in the jungle