Songs you know by heart
Alcohol, promiscuous sex, drugs and escape in Jimmy Buffett’s music
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v9i3.29029Keywords:
Lyrics, Jimmy Buffett, Chronological developmentAbstract
Some researchers argue singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett’s lyrics focus on alcohol, promiscuous sex, and drugs, while others say Buffett’s music has changed since he sold out to corporate sponsorship. Results from a systematic coding of all 386 of his songs released since 1969 indicate Buffett’s music is more about escape and irony than deviant behaviours. Furthermore, lyric themes remain largely unaltered even through an increase in his popularity and corporate sponsorship.
References
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Posey, L. 2005. ‘Managing Risk’. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 45: 15–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1331/1544345052843002
Punter, D. 2014. ‘Dylan and Pity’. Popular Music History 8/2: 141–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.141
Scaggs, A. 2003. ‘Jimmy Buffett’. Rolling Stone, 18 September: 931.
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Vrabel, J. 2013. ‘A Conversation with Jimmy Buffett’. Time, 19 August. http://entertainment.time.com/2013/08/19/a-conversation-with-jimmy-buffett/ (accessed 9 May 2016).
West, A., and C. Martindale. 1996. ‘Creative Trends in the Content of Beatles Lyrics’. Popular Music and Society 20/4: 103–125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007769608591647
Wyatt, R. 1998. ‘Richards II: Some Things Do Remain Quite the Same’. American Journal of Botany 85/10: 1502–505. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2446405
Ballard, M. E., and S. Coates. 1995. ‘The Immediate Effects of Homicidal, Suicidal, and Nonviolent Heavy Metal and Rap Songs on the Moods of College Students’. Youth and Society 27/2: 148–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0044118X95027002003
Binder, A. 1993. ‘Constructing Racial Rhetoric: Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal and Rap Music’. American Sociological Review 58/6: 753–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2095949
Bogert, L. M. 1994. ‘That’s My Story and I’m Stickin’ to It: Is the “Best Available” Science any Available Science under the Endangered Species Act?’ Idaho Law Review 31/1: 85–150.
Bowen, D. 1997. ‘Lookin’ for Margaritaville: Place and Imagination in Jimmy Buffett’s Songs’. Journal of Cultural Geography 16/2: 99–109. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08873639709478339
Brank, E. M., K. A. Fox, T. J. Youstin and L. C. Boeppler. 2009. ‘Changing the Latitudes and Attitudes about Content Analysis Research’. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 20/4: 476–80.
Buffett, J. 1992. The Parrot Head Handbook. Los Angeles: MCA Records.
—1998. A Pirate Looks at Fifty. New York: Random House.
Butcher, C. A. 2005. ‘The Case against the “Native Speaker”’. English Today 21/2: 13–24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0266078405002038
Cole, R. R. 1971. ‘Top Songs in the Sixties: A Content Analysis of Popular Lyrics’. American Behavioral Scientist 14: 389–400.
Collins, M. 2012. ‘Sucking in the Seventies? The Rolling Stones and the Aftermath of the Permissive Society’. Popular Music History 7/1: 5–23.
Davey, M. 2010. ‘Pirate Looks at the Twenty-First Century: The Legal Status of Somali Pirates in an Age of Sovereign Seas and Human Rights’. Notre Dame Law Review 85/3: 1197–1230.
Decurtis, A. 1999. ‘Music; Jimmy Buffett, Traveling Salesman of Leisure’. New York Times, 21 February. http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/21/arts/music-jimmy-buffett-traveling-salesman-of-leisure.html (accessed 9 May 2016).
Diamond, S., R. Bermudez and J. Schensul. 2006. ‘What’s the Rap about Ecstasy? Popular Music Lyrics and Drug Trends among American Youth’. Journal of Adolescent Research 21/3: 269–98. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0743558406287398
Dorros, G. 2003. ‘Cartoid Stenting: Changes in Attitude and Changes in Latitude’. Catheterization and Cardiovascvular Interventions 59/3: 415–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ccd.10566
DuRant, R. H., E. S. Rome, M. Rich, E. Allred, J. S. Emans and E. R. Woods. 1997. ‘Tobacco and Alcohol Use Behaviors Portrayed in Music Videos: A Content Analysis’. American Journal of Public Health 87/7: 1131–35. http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.87.7.1131
Gruber, E. L., H. M. Thau, D. L. Hill, D. A. Fisher and J. W. Grube. 2005. ‘Alcohol, Tobacco and Illicit Substances in Music Videos: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Genre’. Journal of Adolescent Health 37/1: 81–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2004.02.034
Herd, D. 2005. ‘Changes in the Prevalence of Alcohol Use in Rap Song Lyrics, 1979–1997’. Addiction 100/9: 1258–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.01192.x
—2008. ‘Changes in Drug Use Prevalence in Rap Music Songs, 1979–1997’. Addiction Research and Theory 16/2: 167–80. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/16066350801993987
Hilbert, M. 2012. ‘When I Becomes We: How Prototypically “Pop” are a Band’s Lyrics after One Breakup and Two Reunions?’ Popular Music History 7/2: 159–84.
Ingersoll, J. J. 2001. ‘The Thin Line between Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’. In God is in the Details: American Religion in Popular Culture, ed. E. M. Mazur and K. McCarthy, 253–66. London: Routledge.
Jenko, M., L. Gonzalez and M. J. Seymour. 2007. ‘Life Review with the Terminally Ill’. Journal of Hospice and Palliative Nursing 9/3: 159–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.NJH.0000269995.98377.4d
Khunger, N. 2015. ‘Briding the Generation Gap: Dilemmas of a Cosmetic Surgeon’. Journal of Cutaneous and Aesthetic Surgery 8/1: 1–2. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/0974-2077.155059
Kubrin, C. E. 2005. ‘Gangstas, Thugs, and Hustlas: Identity and the Code of the Street in Rap Music’. Social Problems 52/3: 360–78. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/sp.2005.52.3.360
Ledrick, D., and W. Kuhn. 2000. ‘Two Plus Two’. Academic Emergency Medicine 7/11: 1336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2000.tb00487.x
Martin, B. A. S., and B. A. Collins. 2002. ‘Violence and Consumption Imagery in Music Videos’. European Journal of Marketing 36/7-8: 855–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/03090560210430845
Mihelich, J., and J. Papineau. 2005. ‘Parrotheads in Margaritaville: Fan Practice, Oppositional Culture, and Embedded Cultural Resistance in Buffett Fandom’. Journal of Popular Music Studies 17/2: 175–202. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-2226.2005.00041.x
Miranda, D., and M. Claes. 2004. ‘Rap Music Genres and Deviant Behaviors in French-Canadian Adolescents’. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 33/2: 113–22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:JOYO.0000013423.34021.45
Nash, A. 1990. ‘Jimmy Buffett’s Parrot Heads’. Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/article/1990/07/13/jimmy-buffetts-parrot-heads (accessed 9 May 2016).
Padgett, C. S. 2013. ‘Jimmy Buffett’. Encyclopedia of Alabama. http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1219
Posey, L. 2005. ‘Managing Risk’. Journal of the American Pharmacists Association 45: 15–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.1331/1544345052843002
Punter, D. 2014. ‘Dylan and Pity’. Popular Music History 8/2: 141–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v8i2.141
Scaggs, A. 2003. ‘Jimmy Buffett’. Rolling Stone, 18 September: 931.
State of the Phlock. 2016. ‘About PHIP’. Parrot Heads in Paradise, Inc. www.phip.com (accessed 9 May 2016).
Vrabel, J. 2013. ‘A Conversation with Jimmy Buffett’. Time, 19 August. http://entertainment.time.com/2013/08/19/a-conversation-with-jimmy-buffett/ (accessed 9 May 2016).
West, A., and C. Martindale. 1996. ‘Creative Trends in the Content of Beatles Lyrics’. Popular Music and Society 20/4: 103–125. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007769608591647
Wyatt, R. 1998. ‘Richards II: Some Things Do Remain Quite the Same’. American Journal of Botany 85/10: 1502–505. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2446405
Published
2016-09-08
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Brank, E., Fox, K., & Kaspar, V. (2016). Songs you know by heart: Alcohol, promiscuous sex, drugs and escape in Jimmy Buffett’s music. Popular Music History, 9(3), 270-284. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v9i3.29029
