Last night we attended the Houston iteration of the Jimmy Buffett “I Don’t Know” tour at Cynthia Woods Pavilion. Since we flooded more than a week ago on May 26th, 2016, there hasn’t been a lot of singing at Sawmyl Synders, not even karaoke. I always love going to the Jimmy Buffett concerts no matter the venue, the conditions, or the songs that are sung. At our first concert at Minute Maid Park, Houston’s baseball diamond, a man in a coconut bra was cited for indecent exposure. At the Paris, France, concert in 2013, someone’s floating balloon blocked the vision of dozens all night and never got popped. Last night, the lawn people got a shower as Mother Nature arrived early and took a seat on top of the only partially prepared but fully un-surprised patrons. I know of at least one person that does not attend Jimmy’s Doings anymore because they don’t like half the songs.
Everyone stands at the beginning of the concert, at the end of the venue and in between when the great old fun songs are sung. But, most people sit, make beer runs or talk among themselves when the OTHER new fad songs are hung. Myself, I wish for certain songs to occur, the ones that stir my spirit but I know they’ll remain unsung.
~Firstly, “Last Mango in Paris” (1985) takes me away, a long way, to a modest yellow balcony, a small silver revolver and a tiny banana bolso. It has added meaning as time goes by, such as when the pick pockets of Paris partied with us and Jimmy not that long ago –
“I had a third world girl in Buzios, With a pistol in each hand…”;
Tony Tarracino, known as Captain Tony to parrotheads, was the owner of Captain Tony’s Saloon and former Key West Mayor, was immortalized by Jimmy Buffett in the song “Last Mango In Paris”. He married four times and fathered 13 children. A film titled “The Cuba Crossing” recounts his story; Stewart Whitman played Captain Tony. Captain Tony also authored a book with Brad Manard, called “Life Lessons of a Legend.”
~Then Fruitcakes – Released in 1994, I wasn’t able to find any “meaning” documented on the internet so I’ll add my own…
It’s the Buddhist in you, it’s the pagan in me
It’s the Muslim in him, she’s Catholic ain’t she?
It’s that born again look, it’s the wasp and the Jew
Tell me what’s goin on, I ain’t got a clue
I’m starting with the above lyric because I believe that most people look at the world and think it’s crazy because of THEM. Jimmy is pointing out that much of what is craziness is merely individual truths bumping up against each other. It is the lack of acknowledgement of this pseudo fact that creates the illusion of insanity in reality. To use a metaphor from current events: When overnight the great river overflowed its banks, the City of Light, Paris, was declared in Seine.
~Also, Growing Older But Not Up:
So now don’t get me wrong
This is not a sad song
Just events that I have happened to witness
And time takes it’s toll as we head for the poll
And no one dies from physical fitness
~Again, getting old, Migrations:
Well, now if I ever live to be an old man
I’m gonna sail down to Martinique
I’m gonna buy me a sweat-stained Bogart suit
And an African parakeet
And then I’ll sit him on my shoulder
And open up my trusty old mind
I gonna teach him how to cuss, teach him how to fuss
And pull the cork out of a bottle of wine
~The Stories We Could Tell:
Stared at that guitar in that museum in Tennessee
Nameplate on the glass brought back twenty melodies
Scars upon the face told of all the times he fell
Singin’ all the stories he could tell
~Cowboy In the Jungle (1978): There are several articles written about Theodore Roosevelt exploring The River of Doubt which refer to the former president as “Cowboy in the jungle”.
We’ve gotta roll with the punches
Learn to play all of our hunches
Makin’ the best of whatever comes your way
Forget that blind ambition
And learn to trust your intuition
Plowin’ straight ahead come what may.
And there’s a cowboy in the jungle.
~Boat Drinks (1979): (from Song Facts) Buffett: It was February in Boston, and I was cold and wanted to go home. I came out of the bar and couldn’t find a cab except for the one that was running in front of the nearby hotel. There was no driver in it, and I was too cold to care about the consequences. I hopped in and drove back to my hotel. I did leave the fare on the seat.
I’d like to go where the pace of life’s slow.
Could you beam me somewhere, Mister Scott?
Any old place here on Earth or in space.
You pick the century and I’ll pick the spot.
~We are the People Our Parents Warned Us About (1983, One Particular Harbor)…This happens to also be the motto of the Bandidos motorcycle gang.
I was supposed to have been a Jesuit priest or a Naval Academy grad
That was the way that my parents perceived me
Those were the plans that they had
Though I couldn’t fit the part too dumb or too smart
Ain’t it funny how we all turned out
I guess we are the people our parents warned us about
…
Hey hey, Gardner McKay, take us on the leaky Tiki with you… Actor Gardner McKay is best known for the lead role in the TV series “Adventures in Paradise (TV series)”, in which he, on the schooner Tiki III, sailed the South Pacific.