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In The Shelter Lyrics
In the shelter
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home
Lonely princess
All the days out on your own are growing empty
Nothing is goin' well if you could only tell them
How you feel
But they're too real to understand
Too many trite expressions ended in forced rejections
long ago
Too many innocent faces too many far out places
something's wrong
Let me tell you that something's wrong
It's been that way so long
It's a shame
On the street car
To the city where she knows that she might lose it all
Riding for just a dime taking her own sweet time
and knowing well
This could be her final fall
Past the boutique
down the alley to the river people pass her by
Sits on the big gray rocks takes off her boots and socks
And knowing what she will do next
Just starts to cry
Too many small suggestions ending in angry questions
from her dad
Too many TV dinners and everyone loves a winner
But she was lost
No one knows the trials she had
In the shelter
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home
Lord I just don't know but I can't go back home
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home
All the days out on your own are growing empty
Nothing is goin' well if you could only tell them
How you feel
But they're too real to understand
long ago
Too many innocent faces too many far out places
something's wrong
Let me tell you that something's wrong
It's been that way so long
It's a shame
To the city where she knows that she might lose it all
Riding for just a dime taking her own sweet time
and knowing well
This could be her final fall
down the alley to the river people pass her by
Sits on the big gray rocks takes off her boots and socks
And knowing what she will do next
Just starts to cry
from her dad
Too many TV dinners and everyone loves a winner
But she was lost
No one knows the trials she had
In the morning as the sun was brightly beaming
I heard her cryin' out what is it all about
I just don't know
But I can't go back home
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This is the original version off "High Cumberland Jubilee." In the "Changes" version, it says "not knowing what she will do next," which is a much more optimistic version. When Jimmy recorded the song AGAIN for "Meet Me In Margaritaville," he kept her not knowing.
I quote the "nothing is going well, if you could only tell them how you feel, but they're too real to understand" all the time to myself on bad days.
I tend to prefer the more optimistic version myself. I play this song for myself often on my bad days. I just like the "no one knows the trials she had" line. Some of the lines in this song really hit home, like the one you mentioned as well.
I tend to prefer the more optimistic version myself. I play this song for myself often on my bad days. I just like the "no one knows the trials she had" line. Some of the lines in this song really hit home, like the one you mentioned as well.
I have always enjoyed Jimmy Buffett as a poet and entertainer but finally realized his amazing his genius when I read the original lyrics to this song.
I grew up with the "Changes " version where he sings "..sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks, NOT knowing what she will do next just starts to cry...". I can envison the big grey rocks down by the river on the Moonwalk in New Orleans and see someone who has had a rough upbringing going to live in the Quarter and trying to sort things out on one of many bad days by going to relax by the river.
When I read the original lyric "... sits on the big grey rocks, takes off her boots and socks AND knowing what she will do next just starts to cry..." This is someone who has run away from many bad things and can find no hope so she intends to end it there in the Mississippi. She is beyond hope and we suddenly understand the severity of what she's been through.
A single word changes the utlimate temper and meaning of this song. I would love to know more about his inspiration for this song.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
@ChipCMD - Thank you! I owned both versions, but had learned the lyrics first from Changes in Lat. I later got High Cumberland, but whenever the older song played I heard "NOT knowing...". The lyrics from the newer version were so burned into my head I just didn't hear it.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
Fast forward 35 years, I go and listen to the older version for the first time in at least a decade -- the word "AND" pops out, and repaints my entire image of this song. I thought I was going insane.
IMO, this is the most inspired,...
IMO, this is the most inspired, poetic and artistic song he has ever written. It doesn't surprise me that as his fame rose, and he became Mr. Goodtime Partyman he changed the lyrics to be less fatalist.
I love the magic in that one-word change. One is a hard struggle you might win, the other is one you lose. Powerful.
What interpretation does Jimmy Buffett himself give to this song? I've been a professional counselor for 50 years and I do not hear that it "speaks to the universal human experience of finding comfort and refuge in times of turmoil" as has been suggested in one interpretation elsewhere. Where is comfort and hope in this song?
It seems to me like the "shelter" in the song is one for the homeless or abused. "Nothing is goin' well. If you could only tell them how you feel, but they're too real to understand" and "On the street car to the city where she knows that she might lose it all. Riding for just a dime, taking her own sweet time and knowing well this could be her final fall" and "Too many TV dinners and everyone loves a winner but she was lost. No one knows the trials she had" sound like she very lost, alone and hopeless. "Sits on the big gray rocks. Takes off her boots and socks and (not) knowing what she will do next, just starts to cry" seems to threaten suicidal urges.
[Edit: formatting (by SM team)]