The Mango Vol 1 Issue 6

DEEP TRACKS

Please Bypass This Heart

Text by Johnny Cate

it’s one of my favorite album covers: Buffett looking totally out of character in black slacks and collar, red tie, sitting at a table in what looks like a fancy restaurant. As he proudly displays a slice of mango on the end of a Swiss Army Knife, his date glowers at him over her menu. Hilarious. Anyway, pardon the digression. It’s the fourth track on Last Mango we’re here to talk about. “Please Bypass This Heart” is a cut in which Jimmy, ever the songbird, finds a convenient little metaphor as coronary bypass surgery becomes a proliferated procedure in the ‘80s. As could be expected, it has nothing to do with science or medicine, and everything to do with Jimmy

In 1961, a small group of heart surgeons is credited with performing the first successful human coronary artery bypass operation. While the operation is seen as an incredible breakthrough, standardized bypass heart surgery still had a long way to go. It wasn’t until more than 20 years later, in the mid-80s, that safety had improved to the point where CABG [coronary artery bypass graft surgery ] began to become prevalent. Coincidentally, this is right around the time when another modern marvel of human achievement arrived: Jimmy Buffett’s 1985 album The Last Mango in Paradise . As Jimmy’s 14th full-length record, Last Mango courts fun, often tongue-in-cheek themes—personally,

The Mango

66

N o v / D e c

2021