Don't Stop

By jimmy buffett, 1997
A little parody of god rest ye, merry gentlemen, which i wrote at jimmy's bequest, disclosing the real reason the rich folks live on this "forsaken rock in the sea" - tax avoidance.

The hill crowd
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
With kinja as our domicile
There's so much less to pay
We pay our taxes here
The irs is far away
Domicile is our comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
Domicile is our comfort and joy

By jimmy buffett, 1996
Jimmy buffett explores new creative ground here, putting the two-hundred year history of amerigo, a fictitious caribbean island, into a calypso number, and framing it into another song, the lege
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.


Narrator
Kinja was the name of the island when it was british. the actual name was king george the third island, but the islanders shortened that to kinja. now the name in the maps and the guidebooks is
Go, 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 we
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 be
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
Bbean. to them it seems like a new harmless and apparently endless carnival.

Sanders
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, whose true adventure has become a legend here
E caribbean. welcome one and all to the legend of norman paperman.

Ensemble
Dis is the legend of norman papuhman
Tale from the islands we'll share
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Is it a dream or a nightmare

Women
Dis is the legend of norman papuhman
Tale from the islands we'll tell

Men
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Cause heaven can turn into hell.

Sanders [sings]
Kinja's the name of the island
It's been kinja for over two hundred years
But remember paradise
Doesn't come without a price
Let me make that abundantly clear
Kinja, our beautiful island
In a windward archipeligo
We've been english, french and dutch
Never seemed to matter much
Now we're officially amerigo

Ensemble
We're kinja
Still kinja
Our kinja

Sanders
(sheila, chef at the gull reef club)

Sheila
Our ancestors came in the slave ships
To work for the privileged few
Who wore paris fashions
And lived in pink mansions
While we huddled in shacks of bamboo

Den da sugar beet bring us our freedom
With the help of our god we got through
Insurrection, beheadin's, funerals and weddin's
Hurricanes and a world war or two

Chorus
Hurricanes and a world war or two
We're kinja
Still kinja
Our kinja

We're kinja
Still kinja
Our kinja

Sanders
(gilbert, gondolier of the gull reef club)

Gilbert
Mr. churchill had to get some destroyers
To put old hitler six feet below
Fdr he pulled a nifty
Got our island for just fifty
And do limeys dey pack up and go

We dance through the streets in celebration
Da fireworks dey light up da sky
We got hotdogs and highways
Got fords and chevrolets
Not to mention the forth of july

Ensemble
Not to mention the forth of july
We're kinja
Still kinja
Our kinja

We're kinja
Still kinja
Our kinja

Sanders
(senator pullman, the island's big enchilada)

Senator pullman
Now the yankees, they come wid der dollars
It's a beehive of activity
Sell dem crawfish and rum
Keep dem dizzy and numb
Oh we're liken' this prosperity

We got new holidays for celebration
We got new laws, but no one complies
We got crawfish and mangos
Calypso and tangos
Ahhh, but we short on our watah supply

Ensemble
Mighty short on our watah supply

We got the carnival
We love the carnival
The kinja carnival
Carnival

We got the carnival
Don't stop the carnival
We love the carnival

And our story begins

Dis is da legend of norman papuhman
Tale from de tropics we'll tell
Chasin illusions can get quite confusin'
Cause heaven can turn into hell!

The legend of - norman paperman

Lester atlas, a crude, very rich corporate raider, traps norman in the caribbean dream by offering to buy the hotel for him, and then welshing on the deal when norman can no long back out. he is
Spicable but somehow lovable rogue, who in his own mind is a magnanimous, misunderstood benefactor of humanity. what other people call corporate raiding, he explains, telling the truth in busine
Tters. why jimmy decided to give him a song with a tango rhythm and a klezmer trill i don't know, but it works.

I'm just an old truth teller
I'm your candid friend
I'm not some daydream seller
I do not pretend
I've a sense of survival
And screwing my rivals
That's labeled me crossed and uncouth
But i can't help it i just tell the truth
He can't help it, he just tells the truth

I'm just an old truth teller
Brutally direct
I see it eye for eye
I'm rarely incorrect
Why call me a sharp trader
A corporate raider
I'm a role model for today's youth
It's so simple, i just tell the truth
He can't help it, he just tells the truth

Bridge:

Why was i born to be right all the time
In deal after deal after deal
Foiling those sharks that are circling my penthouse
Hoping to make a meal

No good deed goes unpunished
Nothing goes as planed
My ingrate family left me
I don't understand

Where's your wife?
In alaska
Any sons?
In nebraska
And my daughter milks cows in duluth
I can't help it, i just tell the truth
Ohh he can't help it, he just sells it
He can't help, he just tells it
I can't help, i just tell the truth

Folks, gull reef regrets the water shortage.
Wild night out there!
Water in the sea, water from the sky, no water in the club,
But while the pump gets repaired, let's live!
If the water can't flow, the wine can!
Champagne party in the lobby!

Champagne si', agua no
Let it rain, let it blow
To hell with the h2o
Champagne si', agua no

The gull reef club's not too ship shape
Time for a party time for a break
Tonight all our troubles will soon disappear
Cause champagne is cheaper than water down here

Champagne si', agua no
Champagne si', agua no

A toast to the french who gave us these bubbles
A toast to your host who stands in this rubble
Running this hotel is no piece of cake
So cut me some slack people give me a break

Champagne si', agua no
Champagne si',agua no

A toast to columbus, arawaks and caribs
To pirates and patriots, rascals and thieves,
The limbo, the cha cha and what we love most
A free champagne party put on by our host

Champagne si', agua no
Champagne si', agua no

By jimmy buffett, 1997
Sanders
Mr paperman, go home. listen to me. pretend you had a nightmare, and woke up. this island is a hoodoo, there's death in it, and this is just the beginning. give it up. whatever you've invested,
T it and go back to new york. go home.

Norman
I felt the ground shake
I'm out of water
Critical picture
But things ain't that bad

We could be living
In communist china
Wearing pajamas
And shouting comrade

I'll fix the gull reef
It will be my salvation
We're only talking
A few renovations
Goodbye to public relations
It ain't what i do

Goodbye forever to public relations
Public relations no longer my fate
This is my life and this is my island
Starting life over is never to (sic) late

[speaks, to sheila]
Get hippolyte!

Notes: henny is norman's wife of many years. she knows that his move to the caribbean is a midddleaged fantasy, fraught with potential disaster, but she means to stand by him. though she to is s
By the island's charm, she's smart enough too know it's an illusion. she's not quite smart enough to perceive that iris tramm is a threat to their marrage. henny sings this song at the kinja ai
, as she is returning to new york to close up their apartment. off and on jimmy and i talked about having a "married love song" for henny. during rehearsal jimmy wrote this lovely song
St overnight.

I find myself between two worlds
Bewildered all to hell
Up north i have my mid-town life
Down here my new hotel
What kind of a dream is this
Ion't know where i will land
It's a caribbean fairy tale
The snow has turned to sand

Chorus:
But he's happy
I understand
And thats the key
To my man

Bridge:
I'd like to have a clearer view
And listen to my hunches
Without the rum-lined kinjan fog
Of a thousand planter's punches
Iguess i'll have to let it go
And simply tag along
Just let myself get all caught up
Forget what's right or wrong
What kind of dream is this
That's causing me this strife
My husband's chasing windmills
And i'm still the nervous wife

Chorus:
Cause he's happy
And he's my man
What good's this key in my hand
Oh he's happy
I understand
And that's the key
To my man

Lorna
Mista paper, senator pullman he just call.
He ask how come ya don need no watah

Norman
Don't need water!

Lorna
Well, you let the barge go by
He comin' to talk to you

Norman
Who is senator pullman anyway?
Why do i have to signal the barge?

Iris
Welcome to the caribbean, put on a shirt at least.
The big enchilada is on his way

Senator pullman
Mr. norman paperman, i presume?
Joinin' us in kinja for de tourist boom?

Norman
Norman paperman at your service.
Meeting the kingpin, i'm slightly nervous

Pullman
Mr. paperman, i here to be your friend
But there's just certain rules here we can not bend

Paperman how about the water? my cistern's flat.

Pullman
Why sure, i come to take care of dat

Chorus
But you gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about da tings you learned in school
We use a different box of tools
And you gotta play by kinja rules

Pullman
Now dis alien ain't bonded for no gondolier
He's bonded for gardener-dat why he here
De chief of immigration a power in dis town
Chief find out-your hotel close down

Paperman
Hereafter gardening's all he'll do i didn't know, i swear to you

Pullman
Doan' hoross yourself, it's okay mister
De chief of immigration-she's my sister

Chorus
But you gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about that civics course you learned in school
We ain't city folks, but we ain't fools
And you gotta play by kinja rules

Pullman
Stop!

Paperman
How about my water?

Pullman
Hold you hosses i come to dat
Look at da chambermaid, she mighty fat
And if dat alien have her baby here
Dat baby an american, free and clear
De secretary of interior, he gonna rave
And dat baby on your record
From da cradle to da grave
Your responsibility-i doan mean maybe
Da bottom line sir, dat your baby

Chorus
You gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about da tings you learned in school
We use a simple box of tools
And you gotta play by kinja rules

Paperman
I'll send her away-but this club's bone dry

Pullman
No problem, lots of watah you can buy

Paperman
Buy water, senator?
That's your advice?

Pullman
Chief of public works give you a special price

Paperman
Chief of public works
Who's he-your brother?

Pullman
Ha ha, not bad she's lorna's mother

Chorus
So you gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about da tings you learned in school
We use a different box of tools
And you gotta play by kinja rules

Paperman
Senator, i thank you.
Now one thing's clear
I've got to hire a kinjan gondolier

Pullman
Now dat a problem-

Paperman
What's the reason

Pullman
No unemployment-it's high season
Can't hire no kinjan to wear dis hat

Paperman
And i can't use an alien?

Pullman
Don't ask dat

Paperman
You've been a great help, sir-you've got my vote
Just tell me-who's going to row that boat?

Pullman
You gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about da tings you learned in school
Just take it easy, play it cool
But be sure to

Paperman joins pullman

Play by kinja rules

Extra chorus
You gotta play by kinja rules
Forget about that civics course you learned in school
God watches out for drunks and fools
But forget the ten commandments here
Kinja rules
Kinja rules
Kinja rules
Kinja rules

Pullman
Norman paperman, i feel you soon adjust to kinja, hahaha

We come from a long line of lenders
Who get rich just exploiting you spenders
But now we just manage our blenders
Up, up, up on the hill

It helps to be charming and funny
Have cute names like binky and bunny
But the main thing's still oodles of money
Up, up, up on the hill

Up on the hill we are the big cheeses
Up on the hill we own the cool breezes
Top of the heap is where we know we belong

Up on the hill above the confusion
Up on the hill we live our illusions
Up, up, up on the hill

Marmalade mansions beneath cloudless skies
Breathtaking vistas that baffle your eyes
We're passing our days in a rare atmosphere
Sun, sea, and stars, and warm breezes all year

Our blood is decidedly blue-ish
We're leery of anything newish
And or course, darling, nobody's jewish
Up, up, up on the hill

Up on the hill we are the big cheeses
Up on the hill we own the cool breezes
The top of the heap is where we know we belong

Up on the hill above the confusion
Up on the hill we live our illusions
Up, up, up on the hill
Up, up, up on the hill
Way up, up, up on the hill

It took me a while to get used to the slow smoky style of this number. iris tramm's first song. it's now one of my favorites. iris has a dog, a german shepherd named meadows, who is an important
Acter in the story. she sings to him about her disillusionment with men, hence the refrain " that's why i live with my dog." the song hints that nevertheless falling for norman paperma
Coconut grove iris sang to an amazingly lifelike puppet dog, whitch all but upstaged her, and won the audience affection all though the evening.

Shelia says the heart is just a muscle
Shelia says the heart is cooled by time
Hiding out for years down in these trade winds
In the land of coconuts and limes

Chorus:
I've played this game for too long
My life's just one same old song
Now marooned for a time on this island
I go into and out of the fog
And that's why i live with my dog

Instrumental bridge

Men oh, men oh, oh men i've known to many
Deceivers cloaked in clumsy vanity
What men lack in love and understanding
They make up in stupidity

Chorus:
But now and then one comes along
And lights up my world like a song
I am tempted to unleash my interest
Yet i put it to you man's best friend
There's just one sad old way it can end

Bridge:
We have our faults
But men have only two
All that they say
All that they do
You're a joy and a friend and a guardian
Never bored with my sad monologue
You're better off with a dog
Sheila says the heart's just a muscle
Sheila says the heart's just a muscle