The three songs I've chosen for this topic are about the people who do the smuggling. We will end with two songs about smugglers who do the smuggling differently: one by land, the other by sea. Before we get to those songs, let's listen to a song about the dangers inherent in the smuggling racket.
Smuggler's Blues by Glenn Frey
One of the big songs Glenn Frey did during the time the Eagles were broken up dealt with the business side of smuggling. It begins with a deal gone wrong.
There's trouble on the street tonight
I can feel it in my bones
I had a premonition that
He should not go alone
I knew the gun was loaded
But I didn't think he'd kill
Everything exploded
And the blood began to spill
Though there is good money in smuggling when everything goes right, it often does not go right.
I'm sorry it went down like this
Someone had to lose
It's the nature of the business
It's the smuggler's blues
After describing some more of the business, he explains why it is that people do this.
It's the lure of easy money
It's got very strong appeal
Perhaps you'd understand it better
Standing in my shoes
It's the ultimate enticement
It's the smuggler's blues
Ultimately, he says why it is that the enterprise of smuggling thrives.
It's propping up the governments
Of Columbia and Peru
You ask any DEA man
He'll say there's nothing we can do.
It is, indeed, the politics of contraband.
Willin' by Little Feat
This is a song from the perspective of a truck driving smuggler. Much of his smuggling is within the borders and he has his price.
And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin' to be movin'
However, his business is international, too.
I've smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
Baked by the sun everytime I go to Mexico
But he's still willin', for his price, of course!
A Pirate Looks at 40 by Jimmy Buffett
This is a song about a bartender Buffett knew in Key West who would have been a pirate if he had lived in those days. He is lamenting that the sea no longer offers his preferred choice of careers.
Yes, I am a pirate
Two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder
There's nothing to plunder
I'm an over 40 victim of fate
Arriving too late
Arriving too late
Among the pirate-like things he's done, such as getting drunk for two weeks, was smuggling.
I've done a bit of smuggling
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami
But I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last
Never meant to last
Ultimately, those things, and even living with younger women, aren't what he longs for.
Mother, mother ocean
After all the years I've found
My occupational hazard being
My occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, but I won't wear a frown
Just feel like I've drowned, gonna get drunk uptown
* * * * *
Yes, I am a pirate
Two hundred years too late
The cannons don't thunder
There's nothing to plunder
I'm an over 40 victim of fate
Arriving too late
Arriving too late
Among the pirate-like things he's done, such as getting drunk for two weeks, was smuggling.
I've done a bit of smuggling
I've run my share of grass
I made enough money to buy Miami
But I pissed it away so fast
Never meant to last
Never meant to last
Ultimately, those things, and even living with younger women, aren't what he longs for.
Mother, mother ocean
After all the years I've found
My occupational hazard being
My occupation's just not around
I feel like I've drowned, but I won't wear a frown
Just feel like I've drowned, gonna get drunk uptown
Here are other posts in the series:
