'Living and Dying in 3/4 Time' by Jimmy Buffett - Track by Track (50th Anniversary)

by Julian Spivey
February marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Jimmy Buffett’s Living and Dying in ¾ Time, his fourth studio album overall but his second after going down to Key West, Fla. and developing the type of beach bum Shakespeare persona he would take to stardom.
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Here’s a look at Living and Dying in ¾ Time track-by-track: 
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Photo: Dunhill Records

“Pencil Thin Mustache”
This is such a Jimmy Buffett way to kick off an album with a wild song waxing nostalgic about some of the popular culture of his childhood that many probably remembered fondly at the time but few probably understand today. Whether you get the references or not – and my favorite is the autographed picture of Andy Devine (which, yes, I’ve searched on eBay for) – it’s a helluva lot of fun to sing along with. I don’t understand why pencil mustaches were ever en vouge but thank God they were if not for anything other than this song.

“Come Monday”
For as long as I can remember there’s been Jimmy Buffett in my life thanks to my dad and for as long as I can remember my favorite Buffett song has been “Come Monday,” the second track off Living and Dying in ¾ Time. Maybe it’s because in addition to constantly hearing it on multiple albums my dad had: this one, the Beaches, Boats, Bars & Ballads compilation and every live album Buffett ever recorded, it was also one of two widely played Buffett songs on the radio, along with “Margaritaville,” of course. Buffett is a very underrated songwriter and I think this lovely little three-minute ditty about longing to get back to the one you love is the best he’s ever done. Written for his future wife while he was on tour it has some of the loveliest sentiments ever put to song with the line: “We can go hiking on Tuesday/With you I’d walk anywhere” being one of my all-time favorite lyrics by any songwriter. “Come Monday” would be the first song to put Buffett on the map as it was his first Billboard Top 40 going to No. 30 on the chart and has seen long-lasting life on oldies, classic rock and classic country radio formats.

“Ringling, Ringling”
I can’t help but wonder if my dad didn’t spin Living and Dying in ¾ Time as much as some of the other Buffett albums when I was growing up because the next three songs on side A of the album: “Ringling, Ringling,” “Brahma Fear” and “Brand New Country Star” are three I don’t remember hearing all that much growing up and are probably still among the least listened to tracks from Buffett’s ‘70s output today.

“Ringing, Ringling” is a nice little country tune about the tiny town of Ringling, Mont., which used to be a station stop on the transcontinental main line of “the Milwaukee Road,” a train line that went out west from the Midwest until such travel stopped being as prevalent and the town pretty much died off. Buffett sings about the “dying little town,” but though some of the lyrics sound depressing, the country and western sound gives it more of a bouncy sound than one might expect.

“Brahma Fear”
Living and Dying in ¾ Time is more country-sounding than Buffett’s previous album A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean from the year before and much more country-sounding than A1A, which would come at the end of 1974. The steel guitar whining on “Brahma Fear” proves as much. “Brahma Fear” sees Buffett reminiscing on how he wanted to join the rodeo but discovered upon growing older that a whaler boat is more his speed. Buffett would find himself singing about having a “Caribbean soul and some Texas hidden in his heart” on his next album, but “Brahma Fear” sees him experiencing that mixture earlier.

“Brand New Country Star”
“Brand New Country Star” is Buffett’s first co-write on Living and Dying in ¾ Quarter with Vernon Arnold. I can’t be convinced Buffett isn’t singing about himself in the titular role, especially with a chorus that ends with: “He can either go country or pop.” The “go country or pop” was always a hard line to toe for Buffett during his career, especially in the ‘70s and probably explains why he would both have trouble with radio hits but also found a new sound all his own.

“Livingston’s Gone to Texas”
“Livingston’s Gone to Texas” has always been one of my favorite Jimmy Buffett deep cuts and it must’ve meant something dearly to Buffett himself because it’s one of a few songs he recut from his first two more folky albums from earlier in the ‘70s. “Livingston’s Gone to Texas” appeared on Buffett’s sophomore album for Barnaby Records called High Cumberland Jubilee in a more stripped, lowkey folk-sounding song that I prefer to the more produced, more beachy, more strings version on Living and Dying in ¾ Time. The song should be a sad folk-country ballad, so I don’t vibe as much with the beachy keys Michael Utley gives it here, which folks are probably more familiar with. Don’t get me wrong, the Living and Dying version is still pretty country with its whining pedal steel guitar courtesy of Doyle Grisham. 

“The Wino and I Know”
Jimmy Buffett opens side B of Living and Dying in ¾ Time with “The Wino and I Know,” which has always been one of my favorite deeper cuts from Buffett’s discography. In 2020, when artists couldn’t tour and perform live due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffett asked fans which of his deep cuts they most enjoyed, and a handful were picked out and turned into a docuseries on YouTube directed by his daughter Delaney. “The Wino and I Know” was one of those songs and in the video, he calls it one of the first songs he ever wrote when working as a bar singer in New Orleans and wanted it to be about New Orleans street life. I’ve always loved the couplets that follow the title in the lyrics, especially “the wino and I know the pain of back bustin’/like the farmer knows the pain of his pickup truck rustin’.”  

“West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown”
Speaking of terrific Jimmy Buffett deep cuts, next up on the album is “West Nashville Grand Ballroom Gown,” which is certainly one of my favorites and one of the most biting songs ever recorded by Buffett. It’s one of those my dad always skipped when we were younger because of the dreaded “F-word” in the lyrics, but damn if it’s not one of the best “F-bomb” drops in music history. The story talks of a Nashville woman who came from a well-to-do upscale family but never quite fit in and was ostracized from their community. I’ve always identified with the rebelliousness of the woman in the song.

“Saxophones”
“Saxophones” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it doesn’t have any saxophones (there are horns on it). But that’s kind of the point too. The song is about how Buffett can’t even get played on the radio by the local DJ in his hometown of Mobile, Ala., but maybe if his music had a big baritone sax on it they would play it. It’s a fun little number that Buffett updated for his 2003 greatest hits compilation Meet Me in Margaritaville to feature the sax more prominently. I like Buffett’s vocals better on the original but the updated version is certainly funkier with the addition of the titular instrument.

“Ballad of Spider John”
“Ballad of Spider John” might be the most underrated song on Living and Dying in ¾ Time and it’s one of the best non-Buffett writes of his discography. It’s a song I find myself loving more and more as the years go by. The song was written and originally recorded by Willis Alan Ramsey on his 1972 self-titled album that wound up being his only album seemingly partially due to a record label conflict but also of his own accord. “Ballad of Spider John” sees an older con man telling a stranger of his regrets and how his life of crime cost him the one thing he dearly loved in life – his sweet Lily. The tale is one of nostalgic despair and ends with an all-time great lyric: “Old spider got tangled in the black web that he spun.”

“God’s Own Drunk”
“God’s Own Drunk” is an interesting track for Jimmy Buffett in that it’s one of the few spoken word performances of his career. “God’s Own Drunk” was a monologue by early American comedian Lord Buckley about a non-drinker tasked with watching his brother’s moonshine still before becoming inebriated off it and coming into contact with a Kodiak bear. The comedic monologue set to music became an early concert staple for Buffett before he was sued by Buckley’s son in 1983 for copyright infringement. Buffett would perform an unrecorded song called “The Lawyer and the Asshole” in concert in place of the song. It’s unknown what the result of the case was but Buffett would go in to occasionally perform the song again live beginning in 1988.