The world knows Jimmy Buffett for his “drunkin’ Carribean rock and roll,” as he put it, with his mega-hit “Margaritaville” becoming a cultural icon of not only his music, but his parlaying it into a super-sized business empire of restaurants and resorts. For Buffett, it all roads lead back to his beginnings in Chicago.
One of Jimmy Buffett’s big breaks came from Richard Harding and Chicago’s Quiet Knight. Harding’s club provided an outlet to help advance the careers of singer-songwriters. Up to that point, Buffett had been busking in New Orleans and auditioning for gigs in Nashville.
Always on the lookout for new talent, there was one time when Harding went to a talent showcase in Nashville. Remembers Jimmy Buffett, “He booked me (around 1972) based on that showcase. I had worked for some despicable club owners. He was the nicest club owner, although he still ran a tight ship. He gave me a month’s work at a time I really needed it.” Getting the chance to open for the likes of Siegel-Schwall, Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks and others provided Buffett the exposure he needed and a place where the audience came to listen so he could sharpen his stage rapport.
It was there where Buffett would meet Steve Goodman and they would begin to work together. It was there, and over in Old Town, where Buffett would find himself fitting in and embracing the folk culture of Chicago. He would fit right in with Goodman, John Prine, Mike Smith and the rest of the Chicago folk storytellers.
“There were just so many good people (in Chicago) doing solo acoustic guitar shows,” Buffett told the Chicago Sun-Times’ Dave Hoekstra in 2011. “The Holstein brothers, Bonnie Koloc, Mike Smith. And those singer-songwriters also had to be comedians and emcees. I had to do that in my early New Orleans days,” continuing, “So meeting all those people in Chicago was a renaissance for me. They were great storytellers, bullshit artists on stage and performers. I gravitated toward that. I found my place.”
The two met in the early 1970s, and they quickly became friends. They bonded over their shared love of music and their sense of humor. It’s been noted Goodman’s songs often reflected Buffett’s laid-back lifestyle, and Buffett often covered Goodman’s songs in his live shows.
When it came time for Steve Goodman’s 1972 sophomore outing Somebody Else’s Troubles, he wanted the album to reflect his Chicago roots with a down-home feel and, in essence, paying tribute to those who were inspirations in his life. With that, he invited those people most important to his career into his living room – Earl Pionke, Fred and Ed Holstein, John Prine, his wife Nancy and Jimmy Buffett (third from left) – into his living room for the cover shot on the album.
The two would continue working together. Here’s Goodman and Buffett performing “Cuban Crime of Passion” from a show in 1973 https://youtu.be/rhyI70Yuqzs
In 1977, Buffett recorded Goodman’s song “Banana Republics” https://youtu.be/LJxXu8MdL-Aon his album Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes. The song became a hit, and it helped to introduce Goodman’s music to a wider audience.
Their friendship led the way for the two to continue working together. Goodman wrote and collaborated on several songs with Buffett, including “It’s Midnight and I’m Not Famous Yet” and “Where’s the Party” on Buffett’s 1981 album Somewhere Over China, “Frank and Lola” on Buffett’s 1985 album Last Mango in Paris and “Woman Goin’ Crazy on Caroline Street” that appeared on Buffett’s 1990 album Havana Daydreamin’. Goodman’s own “Hotel Room” would also be included on that album.
Remembering his days from the Quiet Knight Buffett would even base one of his songs “He Went to Paris” on a one-armed pianist and painter who was a custodian at the Quiet Knight – Eddie Balchowsky. “The song was actually about a guy I met in Chicago and he was the cleanup guy at a club called the Quiet Knight,” he said in an interview in American Songwriter. “He had one arm. And so he started telling me stories about his days fighting in the Spanish Civil War and when he got wounded he came back to Paris for his treatment. The song is more reflective of stories that Eddie told me. All they did was accentuate the history in the books that I was familiar with from Hemingway and Fitzgerald. That song was written actually in Chicago of all places, and it was written based on the stories of Eddie. At that point I don’t believe I’d ever been to Paris. You put all that stuff together and mix it like a gumbo.”
Buffett’s ties to Chicago would continue as he chose the city where the stage jukebox musical, “Escape to Margaritaville,” inspired by his iconic hit, would enjoy its official pre-Broadway run in 2017.
Sadly, we lost Steve Goodman in 1984. And now we’ve lost Buffett (9/1/2023).