“Volcano:” one of Jimmy Buffett’s best albums

1979 — what a year. Jimmy Carter became president (RIP), the Steelers defeated the Cowboys in Super Bowl XIII and the Twins traded Rod Carew to California — truly sad.

However, far more importantly, Jimmy Buffett needed to create a new album; it’s as he said in Mañana: “new albums old and I’m fresh out of tunes.”

With the need for inspiration, what better place to go than the lush island of Montserrat, where the Soufrière Hills provided inspiration for the album “Volcano.”

“Boat Drinks” quite possibly is my favorite song from Buffett, seeing how it was my most listened to song in my Spotify wrapped in 2023 and 2024. Inspired by a drink and a Boston Bruins game, the song describes how “visitors scored on the home rink, everything seems to be wrong,” and worst of all it’s freezing.

At this movement, Buffett needs his drink to take him somewhere “where the pace of life’s slow.”

The song is pure island escapism, and it’s instrumentally clean and relaxing, with lyrics that take you elsewhere.

I love this song and would recommend it for a quick listen. In some regards, “Survive” is a continuation of Buffett’s first hit, “Come Monday.”

Its somber harmonica opening is paired with the lyrics of how through all the shows he’s performing, his wife Jane is why he does it all.

All that he can think of is when they’re together again, at which point they can sip champagne until they break into smiles.

It’s a sweet song and the lyrics just show everything that Jane means to him.

“Chanson Pour Les Petits Enfants” is French for “the song for the little children.”

Buffett never lost his sense of discovery, always seeking out adventures, which is what brought his sailboat to the island of St. Barts.

Imagine you’re Buffett, you’re coming up to the harbor, and a group of kids in a dingy roll up and ask if you’re Jimmy.

Confirming their suspicions, they introduce themselves as the Children of the Moon (their boat), then they give you fresh bread and welcome you to the island.

Doesn’t that leave an impression on you? It sure did for Buffett, since it inspired a song that follows the adventures of “Mister Moon” and his best friend as they traveled the stars.

It’s a cute song with a French chorus you got to sing.

A farewell to a navy officer is seen in “Sending the Old Man Home.” Though his battles upon the sea won’t ever be forgotten, all that’s left are pictures and war books.

It’s a simple song, but I like the line where we say farewell, “to those crazy navy flyers, to those swell Hawaiian gals,” which I find to be a fun addition.

“Dreamsicle” is a brilliant autobiographical song about how Buffett often dreams of sailing ships, throwing everything all away and getting it all back someday.

It’s a quick, fun little tune and I love how Buffett describes himself as an “overnight sensation,” which is quite accurate to how “Margaritaville” launched him into the stratosphere overnight.

“Stranded on a Sandbar” is a classic that starts off slow but heats up by the end.

We follow a description of how Buffett is living his life at a slower pace, and how he hasn’t found the answer to questions that others have.

But he has no shame, he’s taking his time with his days, enjoying his life as a “jester,” after all it “keeps him moving around.”

Also, a line I specifically enjoy is how Buffett compares the stars he’s counting to, “lights on the cars that are shining up and down on me,” which creates a beautiful image.

“Fins” is one of Buffett’s biggest hits. We follow a young woman from Cincinatti to the tropics where she finds herself in a precarious situation.

She’s saving up her money so she can go somewhere even better, but she is preyed upon by “the sharks.” Buffett likens men’s predatory behavior toward women to sharks, with the chorus, “you got fins to the left, fins to the right and you’re the only girl in town” exploring how predatory behavior creates solitude.

However, it is sad how accurate this song is to what women feel.

The song is catchy, and it gave birth to a tradition for future concerts, where people in the audience move their fins (their arms) to the left and to the right during the chorus.

The title track is “Volcano,” a song inspired by the Soufrière Hills of Montserrat and what happens when the volcano blows.

Buffett traveled to Hills and ventured as far up that rock he could go, and there the lyrics came naturally.

Buffett wrote the song in fifteen minutes, with the words, “I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know where I’m a-gonna go when the volcano blows” coming naturally.

It is a repetitive song, but that does not detract from its entertaining lyrics and soothing tropical instruments.

Any good Buffett fan would recognize this album as among his best, however the charts and all those lame things don’t reflect the brilliance of his music.

The album would perform worse than “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” but some songs did well on the charts, such as “Fins” and “Volcano.”

Regardless, dropping in the charts like this causes most musicians to go soul searching and look for their sound, Buffett being no exception.

I’d say “Volcano” closes the book on the “golden era” of Buffett’s discography, with a new era in store. As for Montserrat, despite “Volcano” being a catchy song, the volcano indeed exploded in 1995, with half of the island being left uninhabitable — a true natural disaster.

Now, I’d love to talk more, but I just got a call on the “Coconut Telegraph.”