Parrothead Playlist - "A White Sport Coat . . " Quiz

Answer: The Great Filling Station Holdup

Back in the olden days when people actually read printed local newspapers, one of the most popular features was the police blotter - a daily list of all the neighborhood crimes reported to the cops. Jimmy got a huge laugh and inspiration from a "not-so-dynamic duo" and their botched getaway of a gas station heist.

It also marked the official studio debut of Jimmy's long-time harmonica player, Greg "Fingers" Taylor. Their initial meeting happened in typical 1970s musician fashion; Jimmy had already graduated and was simply busking on the street for money near the student union when Greg, who was still a student, walked up and asked if they could play together. While Fingers was the first to back Jimmy on an album, he wasn't the first official Coral Reefer. That charter title belongs to guitarist Roger Bartlett, who joined Jimmy as an acoustic duo in 1974 before the band fully expanded the following year.

Answer: Cuban Crime of Passion

Jimmy read the papers back in the day. A "Miami Herald" headline read "Cuban Crime of Passion" with the story about a south Florida love triangle gone bad. Jimmy and co-writer Tom Corcoran penned a fictional spin on the bloodshed and detailed a messy love triangle between piano player Billy Voltaire, Meritta, and Shrimper Dan where only Meritta survived the encounter.

The studio recording is a great example of Jimmy's slot in time with legendary members of the 1970s music scene. Steve Goodman, a force in the 1970s country-rock scene, plays lead guitar on this track. Goodman is best known for writing the anthem "City of New Orleans". He also famously co-wrote the cliché-filled final verse to the David Allan Coe classic, "You Never Even Called Me by My Name".

Answer: I Have Found Me a Home

During a 2020 documentary podcast hosted by his daughter, Delaney Buffett, Jimmy revealed that "I Have Found Me a Home" was the very first song he ever wrote after arriving in Key West. He dropped everything and penned the track in November 1971 as a "thank God" reflex to finding a sanctuary.

He was escaping a failing marriage and a string of music industry failures back in Nashville. It was a rough stretch that famously ended when he packed into a 1946 Packard with fellow singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker and hit the road for the Florida Keys.

Answer: Death of an Unpopular Poet

​When Jimmy Buffett talked about the flesh-and-blood inspiration for the character of the underappreciated artist, he was talking about folk icon Fred Neil (famous for writing "Everybody's Talkin'"). Neil grew so completely fed up with the music industry machine and fame that he walked away from it entirely, retreating to the quiet shores of Coconut Grove, Florida, to focus on preserving dolphins.

​During the early 1970s, a struggling, flat-broke Jimmy Buffett was crashing at Jerry Jeff Walker's house in Coconut Grove after being rejected by the Nashville scene. Seeing an undeniable musical genius like Fred Neil willingly reject commercial success to live a quiet life on the water deeply impacted Buffett.

Answer: Peanut Butter Conspiracy

This song is a literal confession from Jimmy Buffett. As a broke college student and struggling musician at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, he and his roommate, Rick, played gigs but barely made enough money to eat.

Buffett verified that the real-life target of their shoplifting conspiracy was a local Mini-Mart convenience store. During live performances, Buffett often joked that he was immune from prosecution because the statute of limitations on the crime had long expired.

Answer: Railroad Lady

Co-written with Jerry Jeff Walker, "Railroad Lady" serves as a bittersweet tribute to a vanishing American institution: passenger train travel. The song was penned overnight during a train ride from New Orleans to Nashville, fueled by a bottle of Wild Turkey bourbon. Jerry Jeff drank so much that he completely forgot he helped write the song, later asking Jimmy why his name was even on the album credits.

Though Jimmy included it on this album, country icon Lefty Frizzell actually recorded and released the song first, scoring a minor billboard country earlier that same year. It quickly became a country standard, later covered by mega-stars Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

Answer: He Went to Paris

"He Went to Paris" is based on real-life Spanish Civil War veteran Eddie Balchowsky, whom Buffett met while Balchowsky worked at Chicago's Quiet Knight folk club. The line "drinks his green label" refers specifically to Jack Daniel's Green Label whiskey.

For the song, Jimmy softened his subject's war wounds, writing that Eddie lost just an eye; in reality, Balchowsky lost his right arm below the elbow to a machine gun nest in Spain.

Answer: Why Don't We Get Drunk

"Why Don't We Get Drunk" is a core member of "The Big 8" (the must play live songs) loaded with 1970s controversy. Buffett originally released the track under the alias Marvin Gardens, a name taken directly from the US Monopoly game board. Written as total satire in response to Conway Twitty's "Let's Go All the Way," Jimmy wanted a parody that left no doubt.

His inspiration was witnessing a late-night encounter in an Atlanta diner where he watched an out-of-focus businessman unsuccessfully trying to get a date 'for the night'. To bypass radio censorship, the physical single utilized a graphic gimmick, replacing the final word of the title with a picture of a metal screw.

Answer: Grapefruit-Juicyfruit

Jimmy introduced the background for this track on his live album "You Had to Be There", revealing it was inspired by a date with a tourist girl at The Islander Drive-In in Key West, Florida. While watching the Rip Torn movie "Payday", the couple drank Purple Passions - a makeshift cocktail made of cheap Gilbey's Gin and Grape Juice. Released in July 1973, the track became Buffett's most successful single up to that point, peaking at number 23 on the US Billboard Easy Listening chart and number 47 on the Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary chart.

Answer: They Don't Dance Like Carmen No More

"They Don't Dance Like Carmen No More" pays homage to 1940s Latin cinematic flair. The lyric "she and old Cougie, my what a pair" highlights the famous onscreen pairing of Carmen Miranda and "Rumba King" Xavier Cugat in the 1948 musical "A Date with Judy". Author Tom McGuane wrote in the album's original 1973 liner notes that Buffett's style occupied "the curious hinterland where Hank Williams and Xavier Cugat meet." Though recorded long after Miranda's 1955 passing, the track became a live favorite and was preserved on the 1992 box set "Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads".

Answer: My Lovely Lady

Jimmy Buffett arrived in Key West with a failed marriage and few prospects, but his luck changed when he met Jane Slagsvol at the Chart Room bar in 1971. A University of South Carolina student on spring break, Jane famously chose to "ditch school" almost immediately to build a new life with him in the Florida Keys.

She became his primary muse, notably serving as the inspiration for his first Top 40 hit, "Come Monday". The couple finally married on August 27, 1977, in Aspen, Colorado, at a private party that famously transitioned into a wedding.

It was anything but a subtle affair, featuring music provided by their neighbors and close friends: Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and the rest of the Eagles.