If I could just get it on paper
By: jimmy buffett
1981
For william faulkner
If I could just get it on paper
The things that have happened tonight
That seems to me to be the big key
I'm havin' too good a time to ever turn
Out the lights

Go to bed wake up with a clear head
Recallin' what made it a ball
Yes if I could just get it on paper
I might make some sense of it all

If I could tell half of the stories
The funny way most things begin
Figure ways to disguise all the half-truths and lies
Find the heart of my song with the point of a pen

Simple words can become clever phrases
And chapters could turn into books
Yes if I could just get it on paper
But it's harder than it ever looks

(instrumental)

All alone on the edge of the water
Hidin' out by the sea of cortez
With my sketch pads and flairs
Tapes and battery spares
It's just no comprehendo to what everyone says

Time alone seemed to work well for faulkner
Time away seems to work for the kid
Life and ink they run out at the same time
Or so said my old friend the squid

Yes if I could just get it on paper tonight
I could tell you what I think I did

• I Heard I Was in Town
• If I Could Just Get It on Paper
• It's Midnight & I'm Not Famous Yet
• Lip Service
• On a Slow Boat to China
• Somewhere Over China
• Steamer
• When Salome Plays The Drum
• Where's The Party