Lost at Sea

Category: 50 Songs to Hear

SONG: Island

ARTIST: Jimmy Buffett

SONGWRITERS: Jimmy Buffett / Dave Loggins

ALBUM: Coconut Telegraph

YEAR/LABEL: 1981; MCA

I get these questions. People ask me, "How can you write them real sensitive songs and then write that TRASH?" And I say, "Well, I can be real sensitive on occasions and be real trashy on others."

(Jimmy Buffett)

Country Music Hall of Fame member Roger Miller was plagued with a problem in his career. He became known for lighthearted, "novelty" numbers like "Dang Me" and "Chug-a-Lug" to the point where his serious material (such as his spectacular song "The Last Word in Lonesome is Me") was overlooked by the masses.

Jimmy Buffett has a similar problem. His best-known work speaks of drinking, sex, drinking, wild parties, and oh did I mention drinking. However, he has a soft side apart from those why don't we get drunk on grapefruit-Juicy Fruit in Margaritaville on a livingston Saturday night songs. Sure, those songs are more fun to sing along with at a Jimmy Buffett concert, but they also tend to diminish the fact that Buffett is a good songwriter. His ballads are where his creativity shine.

One of his best ballads is "Island," a song he co-wrote with Dave Loggins (the songwriter of Three Dog Night's "Pieces of April" who had the hit "Please Come to Boston"). This lovely song ranks with some of Buffett's best material.

Buffett sings the song as a monologue to an island. "I feel that your existence is not unlike my own," he tells the land. "They say no man is like you. Sometimes I feel that way too. It's the need for love, heart and soul accompaniment, that seems to make me different from you." Marvelous sentiment from Buffett, delivered with a simple guitar and string background.

A number of Buffett's other ballads ("He Went to Paris," "The Captain and the Kid") have become favorites. If more people listened to this gem they would be requesting that Buffett perform it in concert.

OTHER JIMMY BUFFETT MUSIC TO INVESTIGATE:

"Ace" (from Down to Earth/HIgh Cumberland Jubilee) -- a terrific early tune about a homeless man who cannot read or write but can show others how to live.
"Nautical Wheelers" (from A1A) -- a song with a line that was the title of an earlier album ("that's 'cause everyone here is just more than contented to be living and dying in 3/4 time") that is a standout of one of Buffett's best albums.
"Banana Republics" (from Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes) -- an unpleasant busman's holiday for Steve Goodman turned into a classic song, and Buffett provides a great interpretation of the tune.
"The Wino and I Know" (from Living and Dying in 3/4 Time) -- at the time, Buffett was trying to be a country singer, but this song makes references to going "back to the island, honey, back to the sea," indicating what direction Buffett's music would eventually turn.
"Manana" (from Son of a Son of a Sailor) -- how can you pass up a song with lines like "Don't try to describe a Kiss concert if you've never seen it" and "I hope Anita Bryant never ever does one of my songs?"

PREVIOUS SONGS:
(Country)
Life is Too Short
I Want a Home in Dixie
I Lost Today
Fingerprints
Down to the River to Pray
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
A Death in the Family
Dark as a Dungeon
Bottomless Well

(Rock)
Heart of Rome
Harriet Tubman's Gonna Carry Me Home
Entella Hotel
Desperados Under the Eaves
Crossing Muddy Waters
Cliffs of Dooneen
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Baby Mine

Long Live the King

Category: 50 Songs to Hear

SONG: Heart of Rome
ARTIST: Elvis Presley
SONGWRITERS: Stephens / Blakely / Howard
ALBUM: Love Letters From Elvis
YEAR/LABEL: 1971; RCA Victor

Music should be something that makes you gotta move, inside or outside.
(Elvis Presley)

Forty years ago it would have been hard to imagine a "rare" Elvis Presley song. Now it's hard to find more than a handful of well-known Elvis tunes. With the increasing disappearance of "oldies" stations new generations might have to dig deep to find Elvis' music.

Fortunately, he is worth the search. Elvis had a great ear for choosing songs. Granted, not all of his renditions came out great; however, there's a very good reason that people who weren't born when he died in 1977 are fans: the man was good.

One of the best examples of a great song given the royal Elvis treatment is "Heart of Rome." The song's subject is simple: woman is going on a trip, leaving her beau in Rome. With Elvis' performance on this number, however, this could have been the Rome phone directory and it would still sound great. Elvis put everything into this song. His powerful vocal punch on the chorus of "I'll make a wish in every fountain, say a prayer that you'll be mine" is spine-tingling. (There is a bootleg of outtakes in existence that features this song, where Elvis sang a rather off-color lyric alteration, but even the joke comes out with the same vocal intensity!)

The worst thing that could happen to music is for Elvis to be relegated to "the past" and considered "un-cool" for younger people. Elvis didn't invent rock and roll, but he did present it to the masses in a way no other act had done. Elvis' music is for all generations, and the place to start listening is right here, in the "Heart of Rome."

OTHER ELVIS PRESLEY SONGS TO INVESTIGATE:

"(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" (available on 30 No. 1's) -- big hit? Absolutely. His best hit? Open for debate, but it is one of the best songs of the 1960s, period.
"It's a Matter of Time" (from Burning Love) -- if you have the 45 of "Burning Love," turn it over and discover a gem.
"Solitaire" (from From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee) -- a Neil Sedaka composition that Elvis performed masterfully.
"Always on My Mind" (from Separate Ways) -- if the only version you've ever heard of this song is Willie Nelson's, give yourself a treat and hear a broken-hearted man sing this (recorded after his divorce from Priscilla).

PREVIOUS SONGS:
(Country)
I Want a Home in Dixie
I Lost Today
Fingerprints
Down to the River to Pray
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs
A Death in the Family
Dark as a Dungeon
Bottomless Well

(Rock)
Harriet Tubman's Gonna Carry Me Home
Entella Hotel
Desperados Under the Eaves
Crossing Muddy Waters
Cliffs of Dooneen
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)
Baby Mine

The Return of a Songwriting Legend

Category: Concert Review

There's an old country song titled, "Have I Stayed Away Too Long?" For J.D. Souther, the answer to that question is an unqualified YES. After nearly a quarter of a century away from recording, Souther returned last year with If the World Was You, featuring an interesting twist: his typical sardonic lyrics with jazz instrumentation.

Souther brought his rich song catalog to the historic 125 Theater at Belcourt (the former Hillsboro Theater, which was home of the Grand Ole Opry from 1934 to 1936) in Nashville, Tennessee on Wednesday, March 4, as part of his return to musical performing (after years as an actor). If his shows have been as good in other cities as this performance, he has been knocking them dead.

The first 40 minutes of Souther's set was devoted to his classics: "Faithless Love," his one big hit "You're Only Lonely" (which people, even his fans, still mistake for the Roy Orbison song "Only the Lonely"), and "Red Wing." He performed "New Kid in Town" (the Eagles hit which Souther co-wrote) masterfully with just his guitar, and "Simple Man, Simple Dream" was elevated to a new level of greatness with the solo performance.

For the remainder of the concert, Souther was backed with his jazz ensemble and performed most of If the World Was You. The only drawback to the set was the trumpet and saxophones were at the same volume level as Souther's vocal microphone, which meant that he was frequently drowned out by the louder instruments. That is a shame, because the long hiatus did nothing to Souther's songwriting ability.

New York singer/songwriter April Smith opened the concert with six songs performed solo acoustically. The opening number, "Drop Dead Gorgeous," featured a good punch line ("If you're just drop-dead gorgeous, then drop dead") and a comment Smith relayed from her father that the song sounded like "what would have happened if Gene Pitney had been a sarcastic bastard." Smith delivered her mix of upbeat songs and ballads with a wonderful knock-the-walls-down blues/jazz voice. Her set was far too short.

Souther's portion of the concert was recorded and filmed for an apparent CD and DVD release. It is most fortunate that this magical evening by a songwriting legend was captured for all to enjoy.