By Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett explores new creative ground here, putting the two-hundred year history of Amerigo, a fictitious Caribbean island, into a number, and framing it into another song, The Legend of Norman Paperman, the theme of the show. The principal singer is the Governor of the island, and the key characters of the show sing verses about the history.
Kinja was the name of the island when it was British. The name was King George The Third Island, but the islanders shortened that to Kinja. Now the name in the maps and the guidebooks is Amerigo, but everybody who still lives there still calls it Kinja. The United States acquired the island peaceably in 1940 as part of the shuffling of old destroyers and Caribbean real estate that went on between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill. The details of the transaction were and are vague to the inhabitants. The West Indian is not exactly hostile to change, but he's not much inclined to believe in it. Meantime in a fashion Amerigo is getting Americanized. The inflow of cash is making everyone more prosperous. Most Kinjans go along cheerily with this explosion of American energy in the Caribbean. To them it seems like a new harmless and apparently endless Carnival.
Have you ever dreamed of escaping from your dull existence to a new life on a tropical island? Our story is about a man who did it - a real person, true adventure has become a legend here in the Caribbean. Welcome one and all to THE LEGEND OF NORMAN PAPERMAN.
Dis is the of Norman Papuhman Tale from the islands we'll Chasin illusions can get confusin' Is it a dream or a
Dis is the legend of Norman from the islands we'll tell
Men Chasin can get quite confusin' Cause heaven can turn hell.
Sanders Kinja's the name of the It's Kinja for over two hundred years But paradise Doesn't without a price Let me make that clear Kinja, our island In a archipeligo been English, French and Dutch Never seemed to matter Now we're officially
We're Still Our
(Sheila, at the Gull Reef Club)
Our ancestors came in the slave To for the privileged few Who wore Paris and lived in pink we huddled in shacks of bamboo
Den da sugar beet bring us our the help of our God we got through Insurrection, beheadin's, and weddin's and a World War or Two
Hurricanes and a War or Two Kinja Still Our
We're Kinja Our
(Gilbert, gondolier of the Gull Club)
Mr. Churchill had to get some To put old six feet below FDR he a nifty Got our island for just And do limeys dey up and go
We through the streets in celebration Da dey light up da sky We got hotdogs and Got and Chevrolets Not to mention the Forth of
Not to mention the of July We're Still Our
Kinja Still Our
(Senator Pullman, the big enchilada)
Senator Now the Yankees, they come wid der a beehive of activity Sell dem and rum dem dizzy and numb Oh we're this prosperity
We got new for celebration We got new laws, but no one We got crawfish and and tangos Ahhh, but we short on our supply
Mighty short on our watah
We got the We love the The Carnival
We got the Don't Stop The We love the
And our story
Dis is da of Norman Papuhman Tale from de tropics we'll Chasin illusions can get confusin' heaven can turn into hell!
The legend of - PAPERMAN