Lyrics:

By: Jimmy Buffett, Jane Slagsvol
1975
It was late in the evenin', just a few of us pickin'
But the lady she played so easy and fine
And the chords that she strummed were so tastefully clever
They planted this song in my mind

Chorus:
'Cause there's somethin' so feminine about a mandolin
The way that they feel, the way that they ring
Just to see slender fingers, movin' so quickly
Made this boy want to sing

And when I get older and I have a daughter
I'll teach her to sing and play her my songs
And I'll tell her some stories I can barely remember
And hope that she will sing along

And maybe one day she'll take a fancy to pickin'
'Cause when that bug bites you, you live with the sting
And if she could just strum a few simple measures
She could make some young man sing

'Cause there's somethin' so feminine about a mandolin
Way that they feel, the way that they ring
And that evenin' in a pasture somewhere near Austin
That mandolin made me sing

Her mandolin made me sing