Jimmy Buffett “A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean”

Posted 18 Jul 2011 in 70s, Albums of 1973, Albums of the 70s, Country, Folk, Singer / Songwriter

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#438 in the Series) is Jimmy Buffett, A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean

Well it took us well over 400 albums but we have our first Jimmy Buffett entry. Not only that, but we’re going way back, all the way back to 1973. This was before he broke out. He was just getting out of playing folk clubs. Here in Chicago he was still hanging out with all the folkies like John Prine, Steve Goodman, Fred + Ed Holstein etc. In fact, Steve Goodman was a ‘Coral Reefer’ for this album. He played some really nice lead acoustic on it. Also, this album was the first time that Jimmy used the term, The Coral Reefer Band to describe his backing outfit.

It’s also the first time that we were introduced to two members of that band that would be with Jimmy for a long, long time. I’m of course, referring to keyboard man, Michael Utley and harp man, Greg “Fingers” Taylor.

A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean was Jimmy’s third album and the first to chart. One if the reasons it did get some buzz was that it contained “Why Don’t We Get Drunk (And Screw.)” It remained a concert favorite for years.

Another song that was a concert favorite for years was “Grapefruit= Juicy Fruit.” I found a great live version of the track. I’ve heard JB tell the story more than once about how you get a nasty hangover from drinking Purple passions.

The best song here which is a classic Buffett story telling song might be “He Went To Paris.” This also became a concert staple.

Jimmy wrote or co-wrote the entire disc. I went looking for videos of these songs and I was amazed to see how many of them I was able to find being played live and not all that long ago either. It’s amazing how many of his old tracks are still at least somewhat still alive. Yeah, he’s got his 10 or so standards, but he mixes up the rest of the show real well. One thing that he’s been doing is adding a bunch of cover tunes to the show. Jimmy’s to good a songwriter to have to lean on others tracks.

He shows that writing skill on another great storytelling classic. “Peanut Butter Conspiracy” tell the story about a couple struggling musicians and what they would go through to put food in their belly. Well, at least peanut butter and sardines. I wonder if they ever did pay that Mini-Mart back.

— Larry Carta