Born Christmas Day in 1946, it took Jimmy Buffett 50 years to release his first holiday album, Christmas Island. Released in 1996, the album is a collection of reimagined holiday classics and some original songs that peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Top Holiday Albums chart.
“For those of you who didn’t know, I was born on Christmas Day 1946, the day W.C. Fields died,” said Buffett in the liner notes of the album. “I think this only goes to prove that God does have a sense of humor, but being born on Christmas was rough going at first. The most obvious scam was to try and double up on presents. It did not sit well with my mother, who made it known, in no uncertain terms, to the aunts, uncles, and cousins of the Buffett clan strung out along the Gulf coast, that she expected two presents for her bouncing baby boy-one for his birthday and one for Christmas.”
Buffett continued, “On the whole, it worked quite well, though there were a few Scrooge-like occurrences where I would get socks for my birthday and a tie for Christmas. This probably is the reason I never have liked to wear either since.”
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It would take Buffett another 20 years to introduce a new batch of holiday songs on his second and final holiday album, ‘Tis the SeaSon, which also hit the Country chart at No. 6.
Though Buffett didn’t fill his catalog with many beach bum and trop-rock worthy holiday tunes, he did co-write five across the span of 20 years.
“A Sailor’s Christmas” (1996)
Written by Jimmy Buffett and Roger Guth
Along with hitting the Top Holiday Albums chart, Christmas Island was originally released on CD, and also peaked at No. 27 on the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for 14 weeks. On the album are Buffett’s unique covers of holiday classics, including “Jingle Bells,””I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” Chuck Berry’s “Run, Rudolph, Run,” John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” and the Hawaiian-themed “Mele Kalikimaka,” written by R. Alex Anderson and made famous by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters in 1950.
On the album, Buffett also co-wrote three original holiday songs, including “A Sailor’s Christmas,” the story of a seafarer spending the holiday partying on the harbor.
Sail on the horizons gotta landfall rendezvous
Captain steers a well-known course, he steers straight & true
As he trims the sheets, he sings a song
He learned on boats and bars
Sailor spends his Christmas in a harbour ‘neath the stars
He’s traveled through the doldrums, typhoons, and hurricanes
He’s logged a million soggy miles with water on his brain
But Christmas is the season better suited for dry land
He’ll tell some lies, meet some spies
And dance barefoot in the sand
“HO HO HO And A Bottle Of Rhum”
Written by Jimmy Buffett, Roger Guth, Peter Hagen Mayer, and Russ Kunkel
Buffett’s second track on Christmas Island follows Santa Claus ditching the icy North Pole for a more tropical break in the Caribbean from the bad decorations and snow, before the holiday rush.
Santa’s stressed out as the holiday season draws near
He’s been doing the same job now going on two thousand years
He’s got pains in his brain, and chimney scars cover his buns
He hates to admit it, but Christmas is more work than fun
He needs a vacation from bad decorations and snow
Mr. Claus has escape plans, a secret that only he knows
Beaches and palm trees appear night and day in his dreams
A break from his wife, his half-frozen life, the elves, and that damn reindeer team
“‘Christmas Island’ is a collection of songs, not ladled over with sugary sentimentality and not too far out there in the strange corridors down which my mind sometimes wanders,” said Buffett. “I hope it is what you would expect from the Christmas War baby turned island boy born on the day W.C. Fields died.”
“Merry Christmas, Alabama (Never Far from Home)”
Written by Jimmy Buffett and Matt Betton
Though one state is in the title, “Merry Christmas, Alabama (Never Far from Home),” the final track on Christmas Island, is more a tribute to all of the cities and ports of call Buffett has called home throughout the years, including his birthplace of Mississippi.
Merry Christmas, Alabama
Merry Christmas, Tennessee
Merry Christmas, Louisiana
To St. Bart’s and the Florida Keys
Merry Christmas, Mississippi
Where I started this wild and crazy run
Such a long way from that first birthday
Merry Christmas, everyone
And merry Christmas, Colorado
Though far from you all I have roamed
‘Tis the season to remember
All the faces and the places that were home
‘Tis the season to remember
And to count up all the ports of call I’ve known
And to thank his mercies tender
For I’m never far from home
Christmas Island was released on vinyl for the first time in 2023.
“Drivin’ the Pig (Manejando el Cerdo)” (2016)
Written by Jimmy Buffett, Roger Guth, and Peter Mayer
Accessible by small plane or boat, Culebra (Snake Island) is a small island between the east coast of Puerto Rico and St. Thomas, and a spot Buffett reminisces about on “Drivin’ the Pig (Manejando el Cerdo),” from his second holiday album, ‘Tis the SeaSon. In the song, Buffett talks about his friend “Tom”—likely his adventurous travel partner Tom Freston—who took him to Culebra for a yuletide break. The “Drivin’ the Pig” depicts the roasting of the meat on the island.
Christmas in the Caribbean
On the island named for snakes
Tom last took me to Culebra
For a perfect Yuletide break
I have gone there for the fishing
But when I stepped off of the plank
It was an eerie celebration I couldn’t quite explain
Drivin’, drivin’, drivin’ the pig tonight
Drivin’, drivin’, drivin’ the pig tonight
It’s a smoky revelation and a pork pie ecstasy
The steering wheel, it’s turning towards a feast of possibilities
Little Jesus stole our birthday, Christmas, babies we got scammed
But the thre kings were our saviors, come and join us for some ham
“Santa Stole Thanksgiving”
Written by Jimmy Buffett, Roger Guth, and Peter Mayer
Released in 2016, ‘Tis the SeaSon also features a Parrothead version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas, along with Buffett’s covers of the 1944 novelty song “All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth” by Donald Yetter Gardner, “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “White Christmas,” Winter Wonderland,” and “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
On the album, Buffett also co-wrote a song linking Thanksgiving to Christmas via Santa.
Santa stole Thanksgiving for Christmas
Dragged Plymouth Rock to the North Pole with his sled
Pilgrims never saw him coming
The Wampanoag they kept drumming
That Thursday in November
Gob-gobble about December
Santa stole Thanksgiving for Christmas
It was such a happy holiday
No more laid-back relaxation
It’s Black Friday degradation
Seems Santa sold Thanksgiving to the mall
Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
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