June 10, 2022 —– Chart #147
Hello Music Friends,
Have you seen us on Facebook? CLICK HERE to like our page. It’s summer and therefore prime season for all Parrotheads. To faithful and truly devoted fans of Jimmy Buffett summer sun and pool parties are near religious experiences. I willingly confess to decades of Parrothead status. For those uninitiated fanes out there, Jimmy Buffett is much more than Margaritaville. Today’s entry is just one example of the great songwriter and storyteller JB. From the 1973 album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean I give you “I Have Found Me A Home”. The title of this album is a play on the country song “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation” by Marty Robbins, and it contains several of what later became Buffett’s most popular songs. The album was recorded at outlaw country singer Tompall Glaser’s studio in Nashville, Tennessee. It marks the first reference to Buffett’s backup band as “The Coral Reefer Band” and is the first album on which long-time Reefers Michael Utley and Greg “Fingers” Taylor play.
All of the songs on A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean were written or co-written by Buffett. The most well-known song of the album, the novelty “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (and Screw)”, was originally released as a B-side, backing the single “The Great Filling Station Holdup”, and inspired some controversy at the time due to its lyrics. Buffett wrote “Why Don’t We Get Drunk” and is credited with playing maracas and beer cans on the album under the pseudonym Marvin Gardens, derived from a property on the original Atlantic City version of the Monopoly game board.
“He Went to Paris” is a perennial fan-favorite ballad, appearing on most of Buffett’s greatest-hits collections. It was remade by Waylon Jennings in 1980, Doug Supernaw in 1994, and by Buffett himself for his 2003 Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection. Both Buffett and Jerry Jeff Walker wrote “Railroad Lady”. Walker recorded the song a year earlier than Buffett, and it was later further popularized by Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson.
Jimmy B explaining the song and solo performance: https://youtu.be/BaxL_h3x0gg
Keep rockin my friends,
Stan