“Off to See the Lizard:” part two is coming next

Looking at the album cover for “Off to See the Lizard,”, one can’t help but ask, “what was Jimmy Buffett thinking?” Buffett is superimposed in the foreground of this image (still without a mustache), with rather harsh warm lighting on him. The midground looks like an abandoned drive-in movie theater, and then the background looks like it has a movie screen with an off-brand Godzilla. I don’t really know what Buffett was going for. I can confirm that the drive-in movie scene is the same one from the “Take Another Road” music video (yes, it’s a very outdated and cringy music video), but beyond that, I’m just confused. I don’t really know what to say now, so I guess here it is:, “Off to See the Lizard” (yes, the title is a “Wizard of Oz” reference).

There is no better way to describe this place we live in than the way Buffett did, which is a “Carnival World.”. This is the first song on the album, and it sets the tone for the rest of the album in terms of its instrumentals, and we will see a similar vibe from other songs in the album. But this song’s idea is simple: “there’s no free ride in this carnival world,” and it sadly appears as though everything in this world costs you money. However, Buffett gives this advice to us because if you need money in this world, the best thing you can do is, “spend it while you can,” because “money’s contraband, you can’t take it when you go.” In short, make the most of what you got and don’t hoard absorbent amounts of money, since you only have one chance to make use of it. I am still trying to understand the lyrics of “Changing Channels” better;, however, from what I can gather, it is about different people from unique backgrounds, who are “changing channels,” as if in search of something new, something more in life, or rather something within themselves. Don’t we all enjoy songs that are so existential? It is an interesting song, and I really enjoy the guitar strumming in the intro, which was paired magically with the harmonica.

Alright, who is ready for a lightning round? Let’s go! The biggest appeal of “Gravity Storm” is the upbeat and energetic instrumentals of the song as a whole, which utilize those horns quite well, as Buffett seems to do a lot during this era. The title of “I Wish Lunch Could Last Forever” speaks for itself;, however, there is a love story behind this song. One of the songs with one of the goofiest stories to it is “Mermaid in the Night,” in which we see how a simple day of fishing transformed into Buffett catching something with “a set of gills like no fish I’ve ever seen.” It’s campy (like how I like my drag), but that’s okay since its entertaining and the instrumentals back it up.

The lyrics of “Why the Things We Do” have to do about living our lives in whatever ways that make us happy. However, to me, the real highlight of this song is its reggae-inspired instrumentals, which are paired with a harmonica., Tand the song is just a good vibe to listen to, with its laid-back atmosphere feeling right at home amongst Buffett’s other discography.

“Take Another Road” is a song that Buffett references in his book “Tales from Margaritaville,” a collection of short stories, which was released months after this album. The actual song has deep escapism roots, in which Buffett describes the desire to just get away from it all; the desire to put down whatever you’re doing, and to just “take another road to a hiding place, disappear without a trace.” This idea of escaping correlates with how Buffett loves reading, which is evident by him referencing Mark Twain in this song, but he uses the idea of reading as an escape to be transported to a different place and time. This is a song I enjoy,; however, in doing research for it, I learned that there is a group of Parrotheads who say this song is slept on, and amongst his very best. Now, as stated, I enjoy it, it’s a good meaningful song, however I don’t think it belongs in the ranks of Buffett’s greats like “Migration” and “Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitudes.”

Wow, what an album. I’m sure you can guess by now I have more to say about this album, and you’d be right., I always have more to say, whether you want to hear it or not. But enough of that, “Off to See the Lizard” part two, next week, Thursday, Be there or be square, capiche?