Day #5 – One Particular Harbour

Day #5 – One Particular Harbour

This is one of those great songs. People love it. People who do not even know the song love it. It’s catchy, it’s fun. There is not much more that you really need to say.

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-Original post from 9/6/2023-

Day #5 – One Particular Harbour

I have been winging it each day with these songs, although I have an ever-growing list. Anyway, I decided on this song last night, but was second guessing my choice, but the first song I heard on RadioMargaritaville this morning was it, so I decided it was the correct choice for today.

In 1983, Jimmy released this single from the album of the same name. It reached 22 on the Billboard chart and has been a staple of his concerts since that time.

One Particular Harbour is a crowd favorite and is noted for its strong appearance of the steel drums (also known as handpan drums) in the song, along with several lines of Tahitian lyrics. I’m sure I’ve messed those lyrics up a million times but I sing loud and proud each time. I’m sure many people who sing along mangle the words also, after all, probably not a ton of us speak Tahitian. And neither did Jimmy, although he had a friend who did! And JB generously gave Bobby Holcomb a songwriter co-credit for his island influenced lines.

Here are some of those lyrics…

Ia ora te natura

E mea arofa teie ao nea

(Nature lives, life to nature,

Have pity for the earth, love the earth)

Or just sing along with however it sounds to you, like most people probably do!  I will no doubt continue to mangle them in my attempts, but it’s a damn fun song to sing.

It’s an upbeat, fun, rhythmic song, and I’ve included a link in the comments below. Please enjoy!!!

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In The Parrothead Handbook, Jimmy writes that he had his eye on Tahiti for a long time, and eventually connived his way there through a good friend named Tom Moffat. They had went to Hawaii to play a show, and from there, made it to Tahiti. In the airport, they met a man named Hugh Kelly, who was an American expatriate who had a home in the Moorena Mountains above Cook’s Bay. Jimmy said that when he looked down at the vista before him, the song just came to him, as if it had been waiting for that moment in time to happen.

Of course, this song could be many “particular harbours” all around the world and over the years, I have read and heard many Parrotheads associating it with their own special places. That is one of the magic things about Jimmy’s music; it has multiple possibilities and connections for every individual in his crowd of listeners, and everyone can associate with the song in their own meaningful way.

Okay, I guess there were a few more things to say. Haha!

Stacy

Please enjoy One Particular Harbour. I have included the link below. Enjoy!

The link is from Jimmy’s official YouTube channel, which I have no personal affiliation with.