The Mango Vol 1 Issue 6

Buffett’s complicated love life. The first verse begins: Every day I read about these operations That make a heart that’s weak so strong again I relate it to my own situation And now I know just what to say to you... The cool thing about these opening lines is how clear they are—Buffett records a brief moment of metaphor-making that forms the basis for the song. He sees what these physical operations can do for a weak heart, and he applies it on an emotional level. It’s simple, but very potent and easily graspable. As the chorus drops in, we get a clearer picture of just why Buffett is finding similarities between his situation and CABG: Please bypass this heart Until I’m well again Let’s not even start to fall where we fell again The cheating was sweet but my heart is beat... Uh oh. It seems here we have a pretty significant confession from the songwriter, and this is where the track gets suddenly deep. “The cheating was sweet, but my heart is beat...” From how it sounds, it seems Buffett is admitting infidelity, and also admitting that that infidelity has had an unhealthy effect on him. It’s the kind of disarming honesty one comes to expect from Jimmy the more they listen. Despite the comedic album cover and the loopy country sound of the song, we’re suddenly in serious territory as the songwriter suggests that cheating, while “sweet” at first, ultimately comes at the price of a damaged heart. This damage is not insignificant, either—to relate it to the need for bypass heart surgery is to suggest life- threatening peril. As if his life is on the line, the choruses end with the singer begging: “Don’t tear it apart. Please bypass this heart.” In the second verse, the metaphor is extended:

DEEP TRACKS takes a forensic look at a Jimmy Buffett song, usually one considered a “deep track” or non- hit. It’s for Parrotheads, not posers. Johnny Cate rolls back through Buffett’s huge catalog, chooses a song and offers a creative analysis. One goal is to introduce new thoughts on Buffett deep tracks and bring joy to Parrotheads all over the world. But this is not really to provide answers as much as ask questions. This column is meant to be suggestive as much as it is conclusive. It has a stoner vibe, though Johnny is not stoned. And conveniently, “deep” is a great word for a column in a mag about oceans and deep waters. Johnny Cate is a poet and advertising consultant based in Asheville, N.C. He daylights as a writer in association with Chameleon Collective, and moonlights as an authority on Jimmy Buffett’s lyrical catalog. catalog is forgotten these days, obscured behind the bright lights of Margaritaville. But songs like “Please Bypass This Heart” are enshrined as prescient warnings to Parrotheads living the fast life— If we’re not careful with our hearts, before long we could find we’re down to our last mango, Mango readers. Buffett relates emotional youthfulness to physical youthfulness, acknowledging that there was a time when he could play fast with romance and feel like he was getting away with it. But that’s changed— the woman to whom the song is addressed has shown him there’s “a hurtin’ side of feelin”. And there’s only one cure: to quit it, to “bypass” it. The second time the chorus comes, it’s the third line that stands out: Let’s not even start to fall where we fell again... His intention is to completely end this particular fling. “There’s just one cure,” he sings, and it’s to end whatever is going on. However, we then have another unexpected little turn in the song, when Buffett comes in to direct what sounds like a roller rink skate-around. “Skaters reverse... Couples only... All skate, all skate...”. This surprising turn seems to suggest a secondary metaphor—that romance is cyclical, circular and confusing... a mash-up of coupling and decoupling, reversal upon reversal. It’s telling, then, that Buffett doesn’t suggest a total break-up. “Please bypass this heart,” he sings, “ until I’m well again ...”. Behind the tune lies a kind of resignment that once he regains his senses, he may indeed fall where he falls again. This kind of melancholy poetry in Buffett’s

In simpler times I didn’t need a lotta healin’ My heart was young and strong and worked just fine But now you’ve shown me there’s a hurtin’ side of feelin’ There’s just one cure and here’s what you must do