“Everyday held a new surprise
I watched the hunger burnin' in my sisters' eyes
The pasteboard shack we called a home would haunt me in my dreams”
These lyrics from 1970’s “Theres Nothing Soft About Hard Times” were written by the same man who would later write “I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and French-fried potatoes”. Weird, right?
So went my first ever listen to Jimmy Buffett’s 1970 debut studio album, Down to Earth. I pressed play expecting to hear Buffett’s signature Gulf-Western (he made up the term) style. However, there’s not a whole lot of material here about fatty foods, babes, or frozen libations. “The Captain and the Kid” is the only song here about being on a boat. And even that one is a tear-jerker mourning the loss of a father figure, instead of, like, how mysterious the ocean is.
I don’t mean this to sound negative about most of the Buffett catalogue. I love the corny stuff. I had a poster for the song “Fins” in my bedroom for about 20 years. But it is a shock to the system to hear this familiar, friendly voice sing about poverty, religion, doomed relationships, and the loss of loved ones. Although most of these songs don’t track along with Buffett’s usual schtick, a lot of them are really dang good.
Album opener “The Christian” shows Buffett rallying against those who use religion as an excuse to treat the less fortunate like garbage
(“Could you really call yourself a Christian, If charity cost half as much as a beer?”).
There are no steel drums to be found, but the Big Man really does tackle issues he sees in society. On “The Missionary”, the guy who would later own dozens of hotels, restaurants, and tropical resorts all but accuses the American government of war crimes
(“I didn't know we were at war
I've been away so long
Trying to help once lost men
Distinguish right from wrong
I didn't know we'd killed the men
Our leaders proud and strong
The situation's changed my friend
I've been away too long”)
My personal favorite on the album is “A Mile High In Denver”. It is probably the song most similar to his later material. Buffett is, in my opinion, at his artistic best when sharing his wonder and awe of the beauty of the natural world. This is a twist on his usual bemoaning having missed out on a life at sea, as he recalls walking through Colorado’s alpine wilderness.
“ I'm about a mile high in Denver
Where the rock meets timberline
I've walked this ground from town to town
Tonight I'll call it mine”
Finally, there is a really weird song about Captain America on this album. Almost as if he heard there was a movie being made and he wanted first dibs on writing the theme. He really just needed to tell us all that Steve Rogers’ alter ego is really good dude (and has the “bod of Mr. Clean”????). This song’s chorus is probably the most perplexing part of the album.
(“Captain America we love you, Captain America you're grand
Oh Spiro Agnew eat your heart out Captain America's our man”)
I don’t get what Spiro Agnew has to do with any of this. If you’re smarter than me and understand what the heck he was talking about, please send me an email.
I’ve been a Buffett fan for as long as I can remember. These are not the kinds of songs that I would have traditionally thought about when I want to chill out in the hot tub and drink a mojito. That said, I had a lot of fun listening to Down to Earth. It is an exciting look into the struggling singer/songwriter who would later become the cheeseball we all know and love. If you’re a fan of JB, I would highly recommend checking out this collection of great songs (and the Captain America one).