The Lost Verse is Truly Lost!

Goodman · Post by **Goodman** » December 12, 2004 8:18 pm

While others are focused on a salty piece of land (my copy is on the table) Goodman has stumbled on to something unnerving. Go to the Discography at Margaritaville (yes Margaritaville since BN has none)- check out the Best Live album JB ever made. Its "You Had to Be There". Maybe like me, you are mindful of JB's lyrics. Well the famous lost verse to our National Anthem belongs here and it's missing! I know it should be there because I have the vinyl and I know that's the first place I heard:

Old men in tanktops, cruisin the gift shops
Checkin out chiquitas down by the shore
They dream about weight loss, wish they could be their own boss
Those three day vacations become such a bore

Well it ain't there now. I don't know if this is a sin of omission or commission.

Take it Back JB.

Parrot Monkey · Post by **Parrot Monkey** » December 12, 2004 8:50 pm

Yeah, I know. I guess the concerts for YHTBT were not long after the CILCIA album and the Margaritaville 45' were released, so Jimmy had not yet discovered that the verse was deleated and people were learning the song without it. We all know he put the verse back in shows around the time of the Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays Live album, but seemed to loose it again. I don't know why Jimmy is giving in to a decision that was made by the record company, not him.

Also make note that on the YHTBT version, there's an extra chorus afterwords, while on TTaS it he goes right into the "I blew out my flip flop..." verse.

Someone answer this: So the song was too "long" for radio play. Then why in the name of god is it also cut on the album version? Why wasen't the verse put back in on MIMM? That would have been the perfect opertunity right there.

Or was the verse even recorded back then? Did they loose that part of the master?

It's driving me nuts also.

land_shark3 · Post by **land_shark3** » December 12, 2004 9:16 pm

oh oh, one I know the answer to!

The reason is to drive people like you nuts. GET OVER IT! Its just a song.

Goodman · Post by **Goodman** » December 12, 2004 10:10 pm

Just a song? Bah . Humbug!

CaptainP · Post by **CaptainP** » December 12, 2004 10:11 pm

land_shark3 wrote: Its just a song.

Blasphemy!!!!!!

J.LeP · Post by **J.LeP** » December 12, 2004 10:16 pm

'Tis the "National Anthem," not just a song!

st.somewhere · Post by **st.somewhere** » December 13, 2004 12:41 am

I like it better without the "lost verse". As some here once pointed out, it kind seems as if JB is making fun of us poor working class slobs.

If I was him I'd probabkly do it too...

HsvParrothead · Post by **HsvParrothead** » December 13, 2004 1:08 am

Hell... if I were us I'd make fun of us as well AND those 3 day vacations DO become such a bore

livingstonbob · Post by **livingstonbob** » December 13, 2004 7:32 am

Those three days of vacation are such a bore, unless you are going to MOTM or a concert!

15 degrees and no hockey game's on in Montana!

Bob
Originally from Livingston Sat. Night Montana

Goodman · Post by **Goodman** » December 13, 2004 9:08 am

Livingston Bob

Any connection to Cosmic Bob Livingston of JJW's orbit?

Key Lime Lee · Post by **Key Lime Lee** » December 13, 2004 9:14 am

Most likely the decision to cut the verse was made before the track was recorded. Conventional wisdom was (and still is) that songs beyond a certain length aren't going to stand a chance of getting radio play, and since radio historically drove record sales, it was no trivial affair.

Ergo, if the verse wasn't recorded, it wouldn't appear on MMIM since that was the original master.

Why did he play it live on YHTBT? Probably because he wanted to... live shows have more flexibility in them... same reason he did a Hawaiian version of WDWGDAS...

PA PAR8 HED · Post by **PA PAR8 HED** » December 13, 2004 9:15 am

YHTBT came out after SOASOAS.

Funny, I remember reading something Jimmy said about including "the lost verse" in TT&S, about people hearing it for the first time. I think he forgot that is was included on YHTBT

Also, an article posted here a few months talked about the writing and recording of Margaritaville - how it came together so effortlessly. I think I recall there were only 3 or 4 takes and the nailed it. Never a mention of the "lost verse".

But if the original exists, I love to hear it!

Captain Joe · Post by **Captain Joe** » December 13, 2004 9:53 am

CaptainP wrote:
land_shark3 wrote: Its just a song.

Blasphemy!!!!!!

stone him! stone him!

Key Lime Lee · Post by **Key Lime Lee** » December 13, 2004 10:27 am

Goodman wrote:I don't know if this is a sin of omission or commission.

Oh, and I suspect it's missing simply because the one guy responsible for the entire Mville site didn't so much transcribe the entire record as much as copy and paste the songs from other locations in the discography...

Goodman - I'm sure they'd more than welcome you volunteering to submit a more accurate discography based on the actual vynil.

Goodman · Post by **Goodman** » December 13, 2004 10:42 am

Key Lime Pie

I already made my submission, anything more formal (wearing socks) and I gotta get my lawyers involved and the next thing you know Jimmy's gotta get his lawyers involved and the next thing you know I own the lost verse!

nycparrothead · Post by **nycparrothead** » December 13, 2004 11:43 am

Key Lime Lee wrote:Conventional wisdom was (and still is) that songs beyond a certain length aren't going to stand a chance of getting radio play

So, I guess all of your songs are really long huh...

MacPhin · Post by **MacPhin** » December 13, 2004 12:32 pm

i love that verse and i wish he would make it permanent.

what i would like to know is when he changed the lyrics from;

I blew out my flip flop,
Stepped on a pop top;
Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home.
But there's booze in the blender,
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.

to;
I blew out my flip flop,
Stepped on a pop top;
broke my leg twice, and had to limp on back home.
But there's booze in the blender,
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction that helps me hang on.

don't get me wrong, i don't mind. just wondering

citcat · Post by **citcat** » December 13, 2004 12:49 pm

After he broke his leg in the late 80's?

No, wait, in the late 70's?

Jahfin · Post by **Jahfin** » December 13, 2004 12:52 pm

I *think* the liner notes say some of the lyrics were changed due to poetic license and an overindulgance in Mount Gay rum. I can't answer the first lyric change but the second one alludes to when he broke his leg back then. If I'm not mistaken he got back on his leg before he was supposed to which resulted in the second break. Also just going from memory here but I *think* one of the breaks happened during a ball game against the Eagles. Buffett is pictured on the inside of You Had To Be There wearing a cast and also made an appearance on SNL around this time. When he performed he had his leg propped up on an old wooden rowboat.

Quiet and Shy · Post by **Quiet and Shy** » December 13, 2004 3:35 pm

Okay, in "Growing Older but not Up" he sings:
"I rounded first, never thought of the worst as I studied the shortstop's position,
Crack went my leg like the shell of an egg, someone call a decent physician" (first broken leg)

Then, in YHTBT M'ville he sings "broke my leg twice had to limp on back home," (rebreaks leg from not letting first break heal)

But in the 400-word essay at the start of APLA50, he talks about breaking his leg three times in one year. I can't imagine he's broken his leg five times (ouch!), so I'm thinking they all must be related. What happened that he broke the leg for the third time that year??

Help with this question that's bothered me so.

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