Customer Reviews

Songs You Know By Heart: Jimmy Buffett's Greatest Hit(s)

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Of course, the mood I'm talking about is the "no worries, I'm happy sitting here on the beach(or frontporch)" type of mood. Buffett is notoriously well-known for provoking thoughts of becoming a sailor, pirate, beach bum, etc. This collection of hits delivers that perfectly.

If you aren't familiar with Buffett, this is definitely a great starter album since you don't have to plunk down much change for it and it consists of the majority of his greatest hits. Those hits include "Cheeseburger In Paradise," "Volcano," "Come Monday" and the legendary "Margaritaville." It also includes the devilishly fun "Why Don't We Get Drunk" and my personal favorite, "Fins."

Buffett has the knack for making you imagine yourself sucking down daiquiris and pina coladas on a beach somewhere, much like Gary P. Nunn makes you long for living in Texas. He's a master at this and he has proven it time and again. His sound has been copied by Garth Brooks("Two Pina Coladas"), and out-and-out stolen by Kenny Chesney(most of his recent work sounds like it was ripped directly from this album). He's worked with some great current artists(most notably Alan Jackson) and he has a following, Parrottheads, comparable to that of the Grateful Dead's Deadheads.

So, if you aren't familiar with Buffett, get this album and experience what millions of others have already done. You won't be sorry.

No one of has made a bigger career for themselves out of one hit than Jimmy Buffett. He transformed his only top ten single, "Margaritaville", from just a mere song, into a successful restaurant, clothing line, a brand of tequilas and inspired a way of live for a nation of Parrotheads. Even though "Margaritaville" is his biggest hit, he is by no means a one hit wonder. In fact that song isn't even his best. Songs like "A Pirate Looks At 40", "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor", "He Went To Paris" & "Come Monday" are all superior songs and the rest of the album is made up of similarly excellent songs. If you are a novice to the music of Jimmy Buffett, this is the place to start.

This collection is a must-have for the car, at home or for your summer barbecues. Real Buffett fans actually do know all these songs by heart-and despite the negative reviews THEY ARE STILL GREAT after all these years-still alot of fun to listen to. It's not supposed to be Bach or Beethoven-it's supposed to be Jimmy Buffett! If you take your music too seriously then this is not the artist for you to listen to-GET LOST! Worth 10 stars and very highly recommended.

SONGS YOU KNOW BY HEART contains most of the Jimmy Buffett songs that anyone knows, including such tales of a life spent outdoors as "Cheeseburger In Paradise", "Fins", "Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes", and his all-time biggest hit, "Margaritaville." There are also sentimental straight-ahead country ballads here, including the searching "He Went To Paris" and the wistful "Come Monday." If that wasn't enough diversity for one CD/cassette, there's also the drinking song "Why Don't We Get Drunk (And Screw)" and the detective story "Pencil Thin Mustache." If you get this collection, plus a few of his other albums, you'll have an essential library of Jimmy Buffett.

JIMMY BUFFETT-SONGS YOU KNOW BY HEART/GREATEST HITS: By his own admission, few have done so much with so little as this Son of a Son of a Sailor. Moving gradually from a one hit wonder in the 70's to ka-billionaire King of the Parrotheads in the 90's and beyond, Buffett's 1985 "Best of" to this day represents 75% percent of the material he performs to beach bum wannabes 'round the planet. There's nary a party animal among us who has not bellied up to a sand bar and bellowed and boogied to FINS, that ornery ode to land sharks everywhere, the glutton's national anthem CHEESEBURGER IN PARADISE, or WHY DON'T WE GET DRUNK AND SCREW, which needs no introduction to the moral majority. For variety, there are several reflective sea-faring ballads, A PIRATE LOOKS AT 40 being the most memorable, and PENCIL THIN MUSTACHE, a dose of nostalgia on par with anything the Statler Brothers ever recorded. A glaring omission however, is the harp-drenched dance inducer LIVINGSTON SATURDAY NIGHT, but I'm grabbing at boat drink straws here. There's no point in mentioning that dandy drinkin' ditty that started it all for Jimmy...you already know it by heart.

RATING: FIVE SHAKERS OF SALT

When I finally caved in and admitted, after months of fighting it for no reason I can remember, that "yes, I love Jimmy Buffett," the first album I picked up was this one, and it's the one that seemed to be playing at every fraternity house in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Virginia. You're also pretty much guaranteed to hear all these songs when you see Jimmy in concert. ("Southern Cross," though, which is a modern concert staple, Jimmy only finally recorded in the last few years, and is on his latest live album, "Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays,"... It's a distinctly lesser album, though.)

If you've been exposed to any of Jimmy's music at all, these are the songs you know by heart, whether as staples of light rock -- "Margaritaville" and "Come Monday" -- frat rock singalong -- "Why Don't We Get Drunk (And Screw)" and "Cheeseburger in Paradise" -- or from just listening to them as you blast along the highway, window down, nose raised trying to catch that whiff of salt water off coming from over the horizon.

Once this album is in hand, though, this introduction to Jimmy's body of work inevitably leads to finding albums that feature more of the types of music the fans like. For me, that's more stuff like "Barometer Soup" and "Son of a Son of a Sailor," which are more of Jimmy's stories set to music, rather than his singalongs.

But for the casual fan, this is a great album.

(Now, if you already know you love all these songs, and have just been listening to a friend's/roommate's/significant other's copy of "Songs You Know By Heart," break down and get the Australian import "All the Great Hits,"e:...It features allthe same songs,plus a few more, most notably the rocking "LastMango in Paris" and the expatriate's theme song "Banana Republics." I traded "Songs You Know By Heart" in for "All the Great Hits" some time ago, and never looked back.)

Ah, the madcap meister of mishap, the crooner of craziness, the sultan of sauciness! The incomparable singer songwriter emeritus of the millennium has to be Jimmy Buffett, who seemingly effortlessly composes and performs so many wonderfully silly and yet poignantly meaningful ballads about love and laziness. The man is simply a genius. He is also fabulously rich, having gleaned many pesos from us too-well washed and too well-groomed gringos, peering over the fence at his easily accomplished and well-worn grubbiness. And it is all here for the listener to appreciate!

No one cuts so fresh a slice of life as does Jimmy, whether talking about waking up hung over and looking for another batch of tequila in "Margaritaville", musing as he always does about life's simple pleasures in "Cheeseburger In Paradise", or waxing sentimental in an early number called "Come Monday". His range is impressive and an indication of his true merit, which is to entertain us both effortlessly and with the ring if true emotion sliding beneath his seemingly crazy verses. SO he gives us "Changes In Latitudes, Changes In Attitudes", or "Son Of A Son Of A Sailor", and "A Pirate Looks At Forty".

From "Why Don't We get Drunk" to "Pencil Thin Mustache", Buffett actively celebrates and yet denigrates all that is worthwhile or otherwise in life, and he does so with such enthusiasm and sarcasm that he is almost irresistible. So, this is a great treat and a great slice of life as lived on the lam, delivered with panache and style by one of the all-time great story-tellers. Enjoy!

Now since I was little, i'd say about 6, i have been listening to Jimmy Buffett. My Grandfather listened to him when he sailed the Atlantic then my mom listened to him when she was growing up. My whole family lsitened to Buffett growing up. This CD is what i have listened to since I was 6 and there is no better way to be introduced to the smooth, layed back, island siging, genius Jimmy Buffett. The music on this CD just takes you away for a while and puts you into a good mood and reminds you to enjoy life. Some of my fav. songs include 'changes in lattitudes, changes in attitudes', ' Valcano', 'Fins', and of course ' Margaritaville'. But this CD is a Deff. buy and i would also recomend his live album entitled "Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays" another favorite.

If you've never listened to Jimmy Buffett & The Coral Reefer Band and would like to ... then this is the CD you want.

All of his Favorites and the songs he's best known for are here.

Definitely a must have to play while you're Pre-Partying before one of his concerts.

Buffett-dom (or being a ParrotHead) is more than just listening to music ... it's a way of life ! Enjoy ... :o)

Jimmy Buffett is more of a state of mind then an artist...but if that is true, I want to have part of the state of mind! He seems like a guy who is always having fun. But to tell you the truth, I like all of the songs on here except track #9 (check the listing yourself! ) Some of the better songs are those like "Son of a Son of a Sailor" and "A Pirate Looks At 40" that have more profound messages than, "there's booze in the blender"! I also like the reminiscent "Pencil Thin Mustache" that describes a guy looking back at the way it used to be! All in all, this is a great album! Congratulations Jimmy on the world-class party album!